The Knuckleheads of the Day award

Today's winners are Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson, ICE Spokeswoman Virginia Kice and Blogger David owner of Third World County.

We'll start from the beginning. The story of Pedro Guzman.

Relatives sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on Monday in federal court, saying they have been searching for Pedro Guzman in Tijuana for a month.

"My worst fear is that he is no longer living," said Guzman's brother, Michael Guzman. "He doesn't know how to read. He often can't remember the family phone number. He even gets lost if he gets off the main street in Lancaster."

Pedro Guzman, 29, of the desert city of Lancaster, was sentenced April 19 to 120 days in jail for a misdemeanor trespassing violation, according to the lawsuit.

It says he was asked about his immigration status in jail and responded that he was born in California. Sometime after that, the Sheriff's Department identified him as a non-citizen, obtained his signature for voluntary removal from the United States and turned him over to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, a divison of the Homeland Security Department, for deportation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which helped file the lawsuit, has Pedro Guzman's birth certificate showing he was born at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, spokeswoman Celeste Durant said.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department followed procedures correctly.

"My understanding is that this individual said he was a Mexican national and was in the country illegally when we interviewed him," Whitmore said. "We turn that information over to immigration officials, who then re-interview him."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed he had been deported and said the agency had done so correctly.

If you're not outraged a US citizen can get deported by imbeciles in our government and law enforcement, you're not human. Child molestors and mass murderers get their 3 hots and a cot. An innocent US citizen gets kicked out of the country. This can happen to anyone, and don't say I'm paranoid. ICE and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department @#%^! royally.

Now for Virginia Kice spokesperson for ICE, her quote defending Immigration authorities is sickening.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the federal immigration agency, said it “had no reason to believe that it improperly removed” Mr. Guzman.

Sick, sick, sick. How can this woman live with herself at night I don't know.

What is being done to find Mr. Guzman? Next to nothing.

LOS ANGELES -- A federal judge today refused the ACLU's request to order the U.S. government to search in Mexico for a developmentally disabled Lancaster man who was wrongly deported, saying instead that he wants to be kept informed of what authorities are doing to find the man.

Pedro Guzman, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen, was serving time in the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail for a misdemeanor trespassing conviction when he was deported to Tijuana on May 10 or May 11, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The group, which filed suit earlier this week over the deportation, also asked U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson to force federal authorities to ask Mexican authorities for help in the search for Guzman.

Pregerson responded that he did not yet want to go down the "adversarial path" of issuing a court order. The judge also said it was not clear that he has the authority to issue such an order.

A judge who can't do anything! Threaten the head of ICE with contempt of court(namely having his ass thrown in jail) unless he sends agents into Tijuana within 72 hours. Want to see how fast the government will move then? There is no excusing any of what happened to Mr. Guzman and the incompetence that is happening now is just as bad.

Then we have blogger Dave. He left a comment on the post I wrote yesterday about this story. To be fair, I'll post it in its entirety but only the next to last sentence is why I give a Knucklehead award.

1 in 20,000 in eight months or so. And "developmentally disabled" (whatever that means). I think your scare graph, "So at least one US citizen in 20,000 people deported. Do the math if you deport all 12,000,000 which is never going to happen anyway. How would you feel if its your own family?" is offbase a bit.

And so is your "which is never going to happen anyway". It must happen, ofr we are lost. A country already so far down the road of anarcho-tyranny that it considers amnesty for 12-20 million outlaws who violate our soverignty, around 80% of them with the DIRECT AID AND COMFORT of a foreign power (Mexico) is lost unless it turns a corner and heads off in an entirely different direction, and enforces fair laws lairly.

1,000,000 or so folks seek LEGAL entry into the U.S. annually. Giving scofflaws expidited entry and residency is criminal and would be considered anathema in any law-abiding country.

20,000 in eight months... what a record of shame. 1954. Ike had faced an environment of corruption in border control when he took office. He appointed a new head of the agency and told him to clean house and get the job done, so, 1954: with only about 750 border control agents, Gen. Joseph "Jumpin' Joe" Swing set in motion an operation that spanned the southern border, roved all the way into Idaho and lasted for less than four months. In that time, his men deported (on cattle cars and leased ships, deep into Mexico) about 130,000... and about 1.2MILLION, seeing the handwriting on the wall, "deported" themselves voluntarily.

That's almost 1/3 of what it would take to empty America of nearly all the 12-20 million illegals we have allowed in today.

1.) Set up a semi-permiable border. Make it a wall, if you will (see the "Where's the fence!" ad on YouTube or posted at twc). Kick 'em out and let 'em out, but don't let 'em in unless they jump through the hoops and do it legally.

2.) Catch 'em and kick 'em out, a la "Jumpin' Joe" Swing's tactics.

3.) Vigorously prosecute and fine to the fullest (and most creative) extent of the law ALL employers of illegals. Take their businesses under "enterprise corruption" laws, if necessary (especially, the larger they are... Archer-Daniels-Midland look out... ) and REFUSE ALL PUBLIC ASSISTANCE to anyone who is not in the U.S. illegally--and prosecute social services folks who "bend the rules".

Will it happen the way I outline? Well, some of it will, unless congresscritters are intent on political suicide.

Would some American citizens get caught up in sweeps? Sure. But those caught up will not likely be unable to at least make note of the fact to someone (as apparently was not the case with Guzman).

Let's suppose a scenario where a citizen can't make the case in English because they simply don't speak the language. Kick 'em out anyway. My wife's grandparents were more literate in English (decidedly NOT their native tongue) by the time they earned t

Unbelievable. The rabid hate filled anti immigration(anti foreigner period) crowd shows its colors. That statement is UGLY. You are a ciitzen and can't communicate in English, so you should be kicked out. God help people who think like that, and trust me David isn't alone.

The Guzman deportation isn't an isolated case, but a sign of a deeply troubled government agency. Here are two other instances of the agency screwing people. As the Anchoress writes-

Maybe “enforcement, enforcement, enforcement” will only work if the dysfunctional Immigration system is overhauled and modernized?

Right now I wouldn't trust Immigration to take a three-year-old to the bathroom.

How many more Pedro Guzmans will there before the people of this country wake up? If Paris Hilton got deported, that might work. Otherwise few will care till it hits close to home. This country can be so sick at times. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson, ICE Spokeswoman Virginia Kice and Blogger David owner of Third World County are today's Knuckleheads of the Day.

Linked to- Amboy Times, Adam, Blue Star, Bright & Early, Bullwinkle, Cao, Jo, Leaning Straight Up, Maggie, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson, Pirate's Cove, Pursuing Holiness, Right Wing Nation, Samantha Burns, StikNstein, Third World County, Webloggin, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl,