INB 1/12/08: ICE Says It Won't Sedate Deportees; Raids in TN

Immigration News Briefs
Vol. 11, No. 2 - January 12, 2008

1. ICE Says It Won't Sedate Deportees
2. Tennessee: Raids, Firings at Electrolux

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued an internal memo on Jan. 9 setting a new policy, effective immediately, on the sedation of detainees. The agency "may only involuntarily sedate an alien to facilitate removal where the Government has obtained a court order..." reads the memo from ICE detention and removal director John Torres. "There are no exceptions to this policy. Emergency or exigent circumstances are not grounds for departures from this policy." To get a sedation order from court, officials must show deportees have a history of physical resistance to being removed or are a danger to themselves. [...]

ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers acknowledged in September 2007 during Senate testimony that 56 deportees were administered psychotropic drugs between Oct. 1, 2006, and April 30, 2007. [...]

Read the full article:
http://immigrationnewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2008/01/inb-11208-ice-says-it-wont-sedate.html