Immigration agents drugged two men who were being wrongfully deported, according to the men and their lawyers. One man was in the country illegally and agents took him to the airport to deport him without notifying his wife or attorney. Before leaving, they asked him if he wanted a sedative and he said no. They then returned with an syringe, pulled down his pants, and injected him with one. When they arrived at the airport, they were ordered to return with the deportee because they had not followed proper notification procedures.
The other deportee had a legal stay or deportation, but was being “escorted” out of the country on a commercial jet. Agents had the man handcuffed, but when he asked to speak to the captain to explain what was happening to him, they took him to the ground and injected him with a sedative. The captain ordered them all off the plane.
The ICE officials’ actions violated the agency’s policies on sedating detainees as well as federal air regulations prohibiting the transport of drugged individuals. You have to question, too, whether it’s not cruel and unusual punishment to deport people who may be persecuted in their native countries (as was the case with one of the men, a Chinese Christian) and then force-sedate them when they get upset about it.
