LOS ANGELES - The ACLU of Southern California has learned that two immigrants were forcibly sedated by the U.S. government. Raymond Soeoth and Amadou Diouf, clients in an earlier ACLU/SC lawsuit, revealed that they had each been drugged involuntarily during attempts to deport them. The ACLU/SC is aggressively investigating the practice with the pro-bono assistance of the law firm Munger, Tolles, and Olson LLP.

Diouf was under court protection from deportation when officers put him on an airplane for return to his native Senegal. When he attempted to protest to the flight captain, he was sedated against his will.

Soeoth, a Christian minister from Indonesia, was drugged by guards even after he explained he did not want to be sedated.

Neither man was deported, and both were released in February after approximately two years in a federal facility in San Pedro. The ACLU/SC has won the release of more than a dozen people held indefinitely in violation of federal rules.

'These druggings were medically unnecessary, immoral, and dangerous,' said ACLU/SC staff attorney Ahilan Arulanantham, who represents Diouf and Soeoth. 'Officers sedated these perfectly sane men, apparently just to silence them. The routine nature of these actions raises serious questions about how common this practice is.'

An article published today in the Daily Journal documents the men's experiences. The reporter learned about the druggings during interviews with Diouf and Soeoth for an earlier story.

Medical experts consulted by the ACLU/SC say the drugs used on Soeoth, Haldol and Cogentin, are used to treat psychosis and should not have been prescribed for someone with no history of mental illness. A federal policy prohibits medication of detainees 'solely to facilitate transport, unless a medical professional determines that they present a danger to themselves or to others.'

Arulanantham called that a loose medical standard that is open to abuse. 'It is frightening that the government is using anti-psychotic drugs on immigrants who have no history of mental illness,' he said.

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The ACLU/SC has learned that the U.S. government forcibly sedates immigrants to make it easier to deport them. Raymond Soeoth and Amadou Diouf described how medical staff working for the Department of Homeland Security injected them with powerful drugs against their will.

"These druggings were medically unnecessary, immoral, and dangerous," said ACLU/SC staff attorney Ahilan Arulanantham, who represents Soeoth and Diouf. "Officers sedated these perfectly sane men, apparently just to silence them."

The ACLU/SC is aggressively investigating the druggings. Neither man was deported, and both were recently released from a federal facility after more than two years, thanks to ACLU/SC actions. A judge found that their lengthy detention violated federal rules.

The druggings were first reported in the Daily Journal, a legal newspaper, and later in the Los Angeles Times.

Pictured: Raymond Soeoth, an asylum-seeker from Indonesia who was forcibly sedated by U.S. immigration officials, with his wife, Cindy.

America's promise of civil rights applies to immigrants too, representatives of the ACLU/SC told a United Nations expert making a special visit in Los Angeles. Attorneys from the ACLU/SC met with the U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante, at the start of his three-week fact-finding mission to the U.S.

Staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan raised concerns about the treatment of immigrants in federal detention centers, where 230,000 people were held last year. "The number of immigrants in federal detention has increased dramatically, and we have received disturbing reports about the government's failure to respect their civil rights," she said.

The ACLU/SC has won the release of more than a dozen people held in violation of federal rules as they sought legal U.S. residency.

Staff Attorney Belinda Escobasa Helzer described what happens when local law enforcement becomes involved in federal immigration law.

"Immigrants are more vulnerable to criminals than the population at large, and when local police become immigration cops, it makes it less likely that immigrants will come forward to report crimes," she said.

The Special Rapporteur's visit began April 30 and ends May 18 in Washington, D.C. Bustamante will issue a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council about rising anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. The ACLU/SC believes immigrants living in the U.S. deserve civil rights and should not face discrimination or harassment based on their status.