0
US Drugging Foreigners for Deportation
More than 'last resort,' practice violates international standards
By Sam Gale Rosen
|
Posted May 14, 08 1:40 PM CDT
|
Share
(Newser)
–
The US government injects hundreds of illegal immigrants with dangerous psychotropic drugs to keep them sedated while being deported, the Washington Post reports. The so-called "pre-flight cocktail" often leaves detainees so incapacitated they need a wheelchair to get onto the plane. Used far more often than the "last resort" it's advertised as, the practice violates some international human-rights codes.
The Post found one instance in which an Ecuadoran man was held down and drugged while an officer stood above him and taunted, "Nighty-night." Detainees often receive booster doses throughout the flight, and can be disoriented for weeks following their arrival in their home countries.