Immigration tries to drug deportees
U.S. immigration officials sedated two foreign nationals against their will during failed attempts to deport them in Los Angeles, the men and their attorneys said Tuesday.
Indonesian immigrant Raymond Soeoth, 38, who was appealing his case for political asylum, was sedated with antipsychotic drugs in December 2004 at a San Pedro detention facility; Senegal immigrant Amadou Diouf, 31, also pursuing an appeal for permanent legal status, was medicated in February 2006 while on a commercial plane at Los Angeles International Airport, according to both men and the medical files they said they obtained from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"It's horrifying," said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Ahilan Arulanantham, who represents the two. "It's blatantly illegal. You cannot inject people with psychotropic drugs if they are not mentally ill."
The first case may just have been a mistake. The Immigration service had him marked as suicidal though there doesn't seem to be a reason they would. The second is more clear cut, they tried to sedate him to keep him from objecting to his illegal deportation.
Needless to say, those responsible should be medicated and left alone on a flight heading someplace where nobody speaks english.
Jay
