Some U.S. Detainees Drugged For Deportation: Report

Some U.S. Detainees Drugged For Deportation: Report

Wed May 14, 1:21 AM ET



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

The newspaper said it has identified 250 cases in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003. Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees without medical justification is a violation of some international human rights codes, the Post reported.

Records show that the government has routinely ignored its own rules, which allow deportees to be sedated only if they have a mental illness requiring the drugs, or if they are so aggressive that they imperil themselves or people around them. The Department of Homeland Security's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) took over deportations in 2003.

ICE has stepped up the arrest and removal of foreigners who are in the United States illegally, who have been turned down for asylum or have been convicted of a crime in the past, the Post reported. A spokesman for the agency was not immediately available for comment.

ACLU Seeks to Stop Drugging of Deportees

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 10, 2007; 11:52 PM

SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Indonesian immigrant Raymond Soeoth says he was awaiting deportation when four officers stormed into his holding cell, wrestled his pants off and pinned him down for an injection of anti-psychotic drugs. Soeoth, an assistant pastor and cabdriver with no history of psychological problems, suffered extreme dizziness, paranoia and sleeplessness for two days before the medication wore off, he says. Indonesian immigrant Raymond Soeoth poses for a photograph at Los Angeles International Airport Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, in Los Angeles.

Soeoth says he was given an injection of the anti-psychotic drug Haldol before U.S. immigration agents grabbed him from a holding tank and drove him to the airport for deportation. Attorneys for Soeoth (pronounced sow-UTH') and another immigrant filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday urging a federal judge to stop the forced sedation after learning of a third deportee who was reportedly injected with anti-psychotic drugs at a Santa Ana facility two weeks ago. The motion is part of an earlier lawsuit that alleges the practice may constitute torture and violates both the Bill of Rights and federal law regarding the medical treatment of detainees. The suit seeks class-action status.

"Before, I just heard the rumors that people can be deported and they give them an injection, but now it's come to myself. I cannot believe it, but they did it to me," Soeoth said in a telephone interview as he waited for fares at Los Angeles International Airport. "They treated me like a criminal. I just count on my friends in the church and we keep praying for them, so that they don't do that to other people." Immigration officials have said Soeoth told them he would commit suicide if he was deported, something Soeoth denies. Soeoth fled Indonesia in 1999 and sought political asylum; his request was rejected in 2004 but is being appealed.

The new court filing comes after Senate testimony last month revealed that 56 deportees were given psychotropic drugs between Oct. 1, 2006, and April 30, 2007. Thirty-three had no history of psychological problems but were given the medicine because of "combative behavior," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary of homeland security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Drugs are used during deportation only during extreme emergencies, Myers said. In non-emergencies, agency policy prohibits medicating deportees against their will without a court order, she said.

Soeoth's medical records show he received an injection of Haldol and Cogentin, a medicine given with the anti-psychotic drug to reduce the facial spasms it can cause, said his attorney, Ahilan Arulanantham of the American Civil Liberties Union. "He has no history of violence of any kind, no disciplinary problems at all. He didn't resist in any way whatsoever," said Arulanantham, adding that the ACLU has been unable to learn the identities of other deportees who may have been forcibly sedated. "It's very, very dangerous what they did."

"We look at medical sedation as an act of last resort, and it's rarely used," Lori Haley, an ICE spokeswoman, said Wednesday. The 39-year-old immigrant, who now lives in Fontana, east of Los Angeles, said he cooperated with detention officials and asked only to call his wife to tell her that he was being deported. The immigration officer preparing him for the trip said no, he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/10/AR2007101000351.html">MORE

Internal government records show that most sedated deportees, such as Ade, received a cocktail of three drugs that included Haldol, also known as haloperidol, a medication normally used to treat schizophrenia and other acute psychotic states. Of the 53 deportees without a mental illness who were drugged in 2007, The Post's analysis found, 50 were injected with Haldol, sometimes in large amounts.

They were also given Ativan, used to control anxiety, and all but three were given Cogentin, a medication that is supposed to lessen Haldol's side effects of muscle spasms and rigidity. Two of the 53 deportees received Ativan alone. One person's medications were not specified.