These are the kinds of incidents we can expect more of under the unconstitutional Arizona immigration power-grab and racial profiling law.
LOS ANGELES -- The family of a mentally disabled man claims that the federal and local governments mistakenly had an American citizen deported and said U.S. officials should help find him in Mexico.
Relatives of Pedro Guzman, 29, are suing the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in Los Angeles federal court.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit this week over what the civil rights group contends was the wrongful deportation of a developmentally disabled man.
Pedro Guzman was serving time in Los Angeles County's Men's Central Jail for misdemeanor trespassing when he was deported to Tijuana on May 10 or May 11, according to the ACLU. The family said they've been looking for their loved one in Tijuana for a month. Michael Guzman said his worst fear is that his brother is "no longer living."
He said Michael can't read, gets lost and often can't remember the family phone number.
The suit said Pedro Guzman was sentenced in April to 120 days in jail for a misdemeanor trespassing violation. The suit said that sometime after that the Sheriff's Department identified him as a non-citizen, obtained his signature for voluntary removal from the United States and turned him over to federal authorities for deportation.
Guzman, who knows no one in Tijuana, was last heard from on May 11, when he phoned his brother and sister-in-law's home to say he had been deported to that city, but the call was interrupted before he could say exactly where he was, according to the ACLU.
Guzman's mother, brother and sister-in-law traveled to Tijuana and searched shelters, jails, churches, hospitals and morgues, but have not found him and fear for his safety, ACLU officials said.
"This is a recurring nightmare for every person of color of immigrant roots,"
Mark Rosenbaum, the legal director of the ACLU's Southern California branch, said in a statement.
There are no circumstances under which a U.S. citizen can legally be deported.
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