Wonder what ever happened to Pedro Guzman?

http://www.aclu-sc.org/News/Releases/2007/102477/

U.S. Citizen Illegally Deported From Jail Is Missing in Mexico

ACLU and Law Firm Seek Federal Help to Find Developmentally Disabled Man

Monday, June 11, 2007 printer version

LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration officers and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department illegally deported a U.S. citizen last month, the ACLU/SC has learned. He is missing in Mexico, and today the ACLU/SC and the law firm of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking his safe return.

Pedro Guzman, 29, was born in Los Angeles and raised in Lancaster, California. He was serving time at Men’s Central Jail for trespassing, a misdemeanor offense, when he was deported to Tijuana May 10 or 11. Mr. Guzman is developmentally disabled, does not read or write English well, and knows no one in Tijuana. He declared at his booking that he was born in California.

He spoke to his sister-in-law by telephone from a shelter in Tijuana within a day of his deportation, but the call was interrupted. Family members traveled to the city in an attempt to find him and have remained there, searching shelters, jails, churches, hospitals, and morgues.

There are no circumstances under which government officials may deport a U.S. citizen. Federal officials have refused requests by family members and a private lawyer to assist in the search for Mr. Guzman.

"This is a recurring nightmare for every person of color of immigrant roots," said ACLU/SC legal director Mark Rosenbaum. "Local jail officials and federal immigration officers deported the undeportable, a United States citizen, based on appearance, prejudice, and reckless failure to apply fair legal procedures."

http://andweshallmarch.typepad.com/and_we_shall_march/2007/06/please_help_fin.html

In federal court on June 13, a judge did everything but order the US government to pro-actively help find the man its agents illegally deported. During the hearing government officials:

1. Admitted Guzman is a United States citizen.

2. Promised to distribute fliers at the border and the consulate office.

3. Promised to explore options for contacting Mexican authorities.

4. Promised to write up a report about how this happened to begin with.

Which means if this developmentally disabled 29-year-old who cannot read or write happens to stumble into the consulate office or shows up at the border, they'll help him. Probably. Maybe.

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army is going to donate a small amount of money to help the family with their search. So once again when brown people are under peril, the Salvation Army turns out to be far more useful than the government of the United States of America.

Initial article here. Another one here. For those who asked, Guzman was serving time on a misdemeanor charge of trespassing in a junkyard. He works in construction.

Guzman, a Southern California native, was abandoned in a place where he knows absolutely no one, with no money and without cognitive ability to get himself back to his home. As of right now our government won't even formally ask Mexican officials to search the morgues. That's how little care is extended for someone who is not a missing white girl.

There are no circumstances in which government officials may deport a U.S. citizen.

Good luck to the Gusman family