Family: Disabled Calif. Man Was Mistakenly Deported

LOS ANGELES, June 11, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- He was deported to Mexico by accident -- so says the family of 29-year-old Pedro Guzman. Now they're pleading for help to find the developmentally disabled man, who was in the L.A. county jail when he was deported.

Pedro Guzman is 29-years-old, he lives in Lancaster, and he was deported. That much we do know. But now, no one seems to know where he is.

His family says he was illegally deported, and they're worried that he's running out of time.

A worried mother pleads for her son's safe return.

Maria Guzman, mother: "[Translated from Spanish] I just want the government to help me find him. I've done everything I can do. And no one will help us."

Maria has spent the last four weekends walking the mean streets of Tijuana and looking for any trace of her 29-year-old son. The Guzman family says their month-long search has taken a serious toll.

Mayela Gomez, cousin: "We don't know where he's at. We don't know if he's been harmed. We don't know if he's still alive or not."

Pedro Guzman had been arrested for trespassing. He was an inmate at the L.A. county jail. Days before his scheduled release last month, Pedro was deported to Tijuana.

His family is outraged, saying Pedro is a developmentally disabled U.S. citizen.

Michael Guzman, brother: "Unbelievable that we have to go through this -- even as a U.S. citizen. And to think that our government is really not helping us in any way."

But the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says Guzman told deputies and ICE officials that he was a Mexican citizen. In a statement released Monday, an ICE spokeswoman says: "ICE only processes persons for removal when all available credible evidence suggests the person is an alien. That process was followed here and ICE has no reason to believe that it improperly removed Pedro Guzman."

On Monday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Guzman family. The suit alleges that the sheriff's department and the federal government deported Guzman even after he told them he was born in California.

The ACLU says the jail and immigration officials failed to recognize his disability by rushing to judgment.

Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU of Southern California: "Quite frankly, if it had been me, with white skin, who said I was a U.S. citizen, then that would have been the end of it."

In their lawsuit, the Guzman family is asking for the U.S. government to get involved in the search for Pedro. His family says he can't read or write, or even remember phone numbers.

As for the sheriff's department, they are reviewing the lawsuit. According to a spokesman, deputies help immigration officials gather information, but deputies do not deport prisoners.

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