By SUE MANNING Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES—Six mentally incompetent immigrants facing deportation have been trapped in an arbitrary limbo for months and even years because there is no way to identify them or get them legal help for detention and deportation hearings, according to a lawsuit filed Monday.
"We think those things are basic constitutional requirements," said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrant rights and national security for the ACLU of Southern California.
The six indigent, mentally ill plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Jose Antonio Franco-Gonzalez, 29, who has moderate mental retardation and is unable to represent himself, who was held by the Department of Homeland Security for five years because his case was put on hold by those who questioned his mental abilities.
He and Guillermo Gomez Sanchez, 48, were released in March, three days after the ACLU filed the original complaint in this case.
In petitions for the release of the two men, attorneys said their cases exposed a "black hole" allowing authorities to hold mentally ill immigrants for years without having to explain themselves to a judge or anyone else.
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[Posted by Emma Mederos]
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