[migrawatch-public] Deported in Error, Missing and Months Later Home

August 8, 2007
Deported in Error, Missing and Months Later Home
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 . An American missing in Mexico for
nearly three months after being wrongfully deported has
been found and reunited with his family here.

The man, Pedro Guzman, 29, was taken into custody on
Sunday at the border crossing in Calexico, Calif., as he
tried to enter the United States, said Mark D. Rosenbaum,
legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Southern California, which has represented the family.

Mr. Guzman, appearing exhausted and confused, did not
offer much information on where he had been, Mr. Rosenbaum
said. Relatives have said he is mildly developmentally
disabled. State Department officials said the family had
told them that he had no mental incapacity.

The A.C.L.U. released a statement saying Mr. Guzman told
family members on Tuesday that he had walked from Tijuana,
Mexico, to Mexicali, across from Calexico, a distance of
some 100 miles, and ate out of trash cans.

A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
Lori Haley, declined to comment, because the family was
suing the government. The agency has said it followed
proper procedure in deporting Mr. Guzman.

Mr. Guzman had served about 20 days of a jail sentence for
misdemeanor trespassing and vandalism until May 11, when,
in a screening of inmates' status, he apparently indicated
he was from Mexico and was turned over to the immigration
agency, which deported him to Tijuana.

Family members said that Mr. Guzman, who was born and
raised here, called them from Tijuana but that the
conversation ended before he could say more precisely
where he was and that they did not hear from him again.

The family and its lawyers said the deportation
demonstrated a failure on the part of the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department and immigration authorities to
verify properly his status.

An immigration agent, Pilar Garcia, said in a deposition
that agents did not normally investigate whether someone
claiming to be foreigner was a United States citizen.

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