LOS ANGELES - Federal immigration officers and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department illegally deported a U.S. citizen last month, the ACLU/SC has learned. He is missing in Mexico, and today the ACLU/SC and the law firm of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking his safe return.

Pedro Guzman, 29, was born in Los Angeles and raised in Lancaster, California. He was serving time at Men's Central Jail for trespassing, a misdemeanor offense, when he was deported to Tijuana May 10 or 11. Mr. Guzman is developmentally disabled, does not read or write English well, and knows no one in Tijuana. He declared at his booking that he was born in California.

He spoke to his sister-in-law by telephone from a shelter in Tijuana within a day of his deportation, but the call was interrupted. Family members traveled to the city in an attempt to find him and have remained there, searching shelters, jails, churches, hospitals, and morgues.

There are no circumstances under which government officials may deport a U.S. citizen. Federal officials have refused requests by family members and a private lawyer to assist in the search for Mr. Guzman.

"This is a recurring nightmare for every person of color of immigrant roots," said ACLU/SC legal director Mark Rosenbaum. "Local jail officials and federal immigration officers deported the undeportable, a United States citizen, based on appearance, prejudice, and reckless failure to apply fair legal procedures."

"What has happened to Pedro Guzman is a tragedy," said Stacy Tolchin of Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale. "His life may be in danger, and the government must act immediately to locate him and return him to the United States."

Jail and Department of Homeland Security officials failed to identify Mr. Guzman's disability and improperly obtained his signature for deportation from the United States. "The procedures for determination of legal status implemented by Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs '_ fail even minimal criteria for constitutional due process," the lawsuit states.

Sheriff's deputies trained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conduct immigration checks at L.A. County jails. The ACLU and immigrant-rights groups warned that involving local law enforcement in immigration policing would lead to mistaken deportations and violate the due-process rights of inmates.

Anyone with information about Mr. Guzman can call the ACLU/SC at (213) 977-9500.

Above: Tents on the street in downtown L.A. last year.

With L.A. in a housing crisis, the ACLU/SC and other groups that represent low-income residents are fighting a downtown developer who wants to evade the city's affordable-housing rules.

"The law of the highest bidder will be a nightmare for this city, not just for its poorest residents but for the middle class struggling to hang on," said ACLU/SC staff attorney Peter Bibring. "A clean, safe apartment shouldn't just be a dream for Los Angeles residents, it should be a basic right."

G.H. Palmer Associates sued the city in February over its 15-year-old plan to increase affordable housing in the Central City West area of downtown. The ACLU/SC, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and Western Center on Law and Poverty seek to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of two groups that represent low-income residents and non-profit developers: the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing.

At issue are L.A.'s "inclusionary zoning" rules, adopted in 1991 and intended to help replace affordable apartments lost to redevelopment in the heart of the city. The law requires developers to devote 15% of their apartments to people who make less than $40,000 a year, or to help make such housing available elsewhere. Similar rules are in effect at 33 redevelopment areas scattered throughout the city.

Low- and middle-income Angelenos face an affordable-housing squeeze, according to the filing. The average two-bedroom L.A. apartment costs $1,426. The national norm for rent is 30 percent of a couple's income, and an L.A. family would need to earn $57,040 to afford the city average. A couple earning minimum wage would need to work more than 70 hours a week each.

Between 2001 and 2006, the City lost nearly 11,000 affordable-housing units due to condominium conversions of rent-stabilized units and other reasons, and has been unable to replace them at the same rate. The city replaced less than 10 percent of needed units during that period.

Since 1974, more than 120 cities and counties throughout California have adopted inclusionary zoning ordinances as an effective means of addressing the critical shortage of affordable housing.

A bill to jump-start police oversight in California passed the state Senate 21-10. Less than 24 hours later, the L.A. City Council voted 12-1 to endorse SB 1019 before a vote by the Assembly that would make it law.

"Cities must be able to decide for themselves if they should allow open hearings," the ACLU/SC's Peter Bibring said before the council vote. "No one can credibly profess to support open and transparent policing without endorsing this bill."

SB 1019 will reverse a recent court decision that threatened 30 years of police reform. Los Angeles and several other California cities previously allowed access to disciplinary hearings for the media and members of the public.

The ACLU/SC believes effective civilian review of complaints and use-of-force incidents protects citizens from police misconduct and builds trust between police officers and the communities they serve. SB 1019 won the support of key police leaders across the state and California newspapers. The bill now goes to the Assembly for final approval.