Cross-Border Madness

The family of a mentally disabled Los Angeles-area man says he was mistakenly deported to Tijuana, Mexico, more than a month ago and is now lost. Relatives of "Pedro Guzman of Lancaster, Calif., who was jailed for a misdemeanor trespassing violation, then sent to Mexico on May 11[,] ... sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department last week in federal court, claiming Guzman was a U.S. citizen and had been wrongfully deported and demanding that U.S. authorities help find him," the Associated Press reports, also noting, "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Guzman had been deported and said the agency had done so correctly." But the American Civil Liberties Union, "which helped file the lawsuit, says it has Guzman's birth certificate showing he was born at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center." Maria Carvajal, the mother of Guzman, 29, has been searching all over Tijuana for her son.

In other Mexico-related news, on Friday, June 15, Manuel Garcia Corpus, interior secretary of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, made an official apology on behalf of the state's governor, Ulises Ruiz, for a "June 14, 2006, [police] raid aimed at clearing striking teachers from a protest camp they had set up weeks earlier in Oaxaca City's main square," the AP reports. The apology came on the heels of a local, thousands-strong march on Thursday in commemoration of the clash, which sparked about five months of turmoil. A combination of striking teachers, indigenous groups, students, and leftists was demanding Ruiz's resignation, saying his 2004 election was fraudulent and that his government consistently retaliated against dissenters. According to the AP, "A dozen people were killed in the conflict, mostly protesters shot by gunmen."

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For ongoing Oaxaca coverage, see www.narconews.com; for past Chronicle reporting, see "Oaxaca Turmoil Touches Austin," Dec. 8, 2006.