ICE Drugging of Deportees for Flights Back Home

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:38:40 AM EST
Tags: immigrants rights (all tags)

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The Washington Post continues its excellent series on abuse of immigrant detainees. Today's segment reveals how immigration officials forcibly injected hundreds with sedatives when preparing them for flights back to their home country.

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

The government's forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the "pre-flight cocktail," as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.

One example: [More...}

In a Chicago holding cell early one evening in February 2006, five guards piled on top of a 49-year-old man who was angry he was going back to Ecuador, according to a nurse's account in his deportation file. As they pinned him down so the nurse could punch a needle through his coveralls into his right buttock, one officer stood over him menacingly and taunted, "Nighty-night."

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ICE Drugging of Deportees for Flights Back Home | 12 comments (12 topical)

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Lest we forget (5.00 / 2) (#2)
by trublueCO on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:49:28 AM EST

during the nominating season, that we as Democrats/Liberals/Progressives are going to have a lot of work to do to right our country.

It is going to take all of our might to keep any career politician's (see: McCain, Clinton, Obama) feet to the fire when it comes to addressing issues like these!

they won't peep about it. (none / 0) (#3)
by coigue on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:51:06 AM EST

Just like none of them are speaking out against the use of food for fuel and the current link of ethanol use and food shortages.


please stay on topic (none / 0) (#10)
by Jeralyn on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:51:38 AM EST

it's ICE drugging deportees.


: I was using a separate example (food shortages) (none / 0) (#11)
by coigue on Wed May 14, 2008 at 12:03:45 PM EST

to prove why the candidates would not speak of a similar politically sensitive problem (that which IS the topic).
Sorry if that connection wasn't clear to you.

I'm a retired immigration attorney ... (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by Shainzona on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:12:55 AM EST

and, where possible, we encouraged clients who had lost their appeals to provide their own ticket home so that they didn't get put on the ICE planes.

It was frowned upon, but worked in some cases - and was worth the effort.

I'm not surprised about the drugging. Of course, I wasn't surprised about anything the (former) INS did.

Medically speaking (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by LHinSeattle on Wed May 14, 2008 at 12:14:40 PM EST

there can be significant risks in giving patients drug cocktails such as this. Not to mention you never give an injection without ascertaining anatomical landmarks and having a clear view of the site. Avoids nasty complications like nerve damage, etc.

Despicable.

Compared to what ICE is sending (none / 0) (#1)
by coigue on Wed May 14, 2008 at 10:49:23 AM EST

some of them home to....it may not be such a big thing.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I guess in the current America, since "freedom isn't free" it also "isn't YOURS".

I saw the 60 minutes/WA Post piece on this. It's awful, but I suspected it was happening.

jeeez (none / 0) (#4)
by Jgarza on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:07:34 AM EST

Drugging people to deport them? Ahh Bush justice hits new lows.

This is hardly a Bush low. (none / 0) (#7)
by independent thinker on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:12:56 AM EST

I agree it is terrible, but let's face it, compared to imprisoning people with charging them, denying them access to proper legal defense and torturing to obtain information, drugging someone we are about to deport is mild. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a horrible thing to do and blatently wrong, but hardly a new low.


: arg! typos! (none / 0) (#9)
by independent thinker on Wed May 14, 2008 at 11:16:35 AM EST

LOL...that was suppposed to be "imprisoning people withOUT charging them" obviously

Most people (none / 0) (#12)
by coigue on Wed May 14, 2008 at 12:04:57 PM EST

don't even know about the detention camps at all. I am so glad that WaPo is doing this series.

So wrong.... (none / 0) (#14)
by kdog on Wed May 14, 2008 at 12:27:11 PM EST

on so many levels.

Where's Obama and Clinton bringing a debate on this to the Senate floor to end this tyrannical practice? Oh yeah, I forgot, they barely bother to show up for work. Not that freedom has any friends in the Democrat or Republican parties or anything...