summary

Pedro Guzman is a 29 year old American citizen. In May of 2007 he was arrested and deported from the United States because a mental impairment could have prevented him from letting the officials know that he was indeed a citizen. The immigration officials did not let him exercise his rights and instead deported him as if he was actually an illegal alien. Instead they deported him on May 11 after he signed a paper that he did not understand. He was so confused, he did not know what he was about to sign. Pedro Guzman could not read or write in english. The voluntary deportation paper he signed was probably in english, and he signed it because he was scared and under pressure from ICE.

Then his journey began. They took him to Tijuana, Mexico and left him there by himself, and never notified his family. He spent 88 days there, and had to survive with no money and no way of contacting his family. Pedro was hungry, tired, and could have easily caught a disease or virus and become very ill. For each of those 88 days he searched for food in garbage, bathed in rivers, and slept anywhere that was covered and could stand as a small shelter to sleep. A few times he tried to make his way back home and was forced back by U.S border officials along the Mexico-U.S border. Back at home Pedro's family was desperately pleading for help from the U.S government. After realizing their mistake, the immigration officials stated that they had not done anything wrong and also said that they had taken every step in there process to deport and illegal alien. To add to that, the government denied help to the Guzman family and stated that the government was not responsible for Guzmans deportation.

Pedro's mother, Carbajal, had to quit her job as a cook at Jack in the Box to take the time off to look for her beloved son. Many family members did the same and made the trip to Mexico just to look for him and do what the goverment should have been doing. Instead they spent most of their savings and slept in fruit warehouses and their cars while spending time in Tijuana looking for Pedro. They never found him, instead Pedro stumbled upon a border crossing in Calexico where the officials detained him until he could be picked up. After this happened, his family was still not allowed to see him, and he was transferred for a court hearing in California.

Besides looking for him, pleading for help, and losing time and money, the Guzman family still had to wait even more to reunite with Pedro. The hearing took place and the judge ordered Pedro to be set free in the custody of his family. The ALCU (American Civil Liberty Union) is defending Pedro and has taken immigration officials to court to investigate the steps taken in the deportation of Pedro. Instead of admitting their mistake and apologizing to the Guzman family, ICE issued a statement saying that they were confident that the procedures were followed correctly in detaining and deporting Pedro. One would expect the officials to apologize and make it right, but instead they are going to fight it out in court.