The Political Use of Psychiatric Drugs in Deportation Proceedings

From the Dallas News

The federal government would like to forcibly sedate and deport an immigrant-restaurateur who resisted his removal last August with repeated screams because of fears he'd be murdered back in his native Albania.

But an unlikely champion from East Texas has penned a private bill in Congress that would allow 32-year-old Rrustem Neza to stay in the country until early 2009 – and give him time to receive a full rehearing of his political asylum case.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, who sits on the House judiciary subcommittee on immigration, is opposed to loosening immigration. But he believes the government's treatment of Mr. Neza is "intolerable" and "callous."

Mr. Gohmert, a former district court judge, spoke to President Bush about the case this week, a staff aide said.


"I am a strong believer in following the laws regarding immigration," Mr. Gohmert said in a written statement. "However, we have laws to allow people to remain here based on asylum and the need to protect their lives."

Mr. Neza fears he will be killed back in his homeland because of his knowledge of a political assassination of a democracy leader in Albania, a European country of 3.6 million that fought off communism in the late 1990s.

Two of his brothers have won asylum. And two of his cousins were killed in Europe because of the knowledge they had regarding the assassination of Azem Hajdari, said Mr. Neza's Dallas attorney John Wheat Gibson.

The Gohmert bill could effectively stall Mr. Neza's deportation until early 2009.

Private bills have been issued before on behalf of individual immigrants. But the Gohmert measure is unusual because immigration now stirs such quick rancor.

Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman in Dallas, said he couldn't comment on the Neza case because of litigation in Los Angeles over the policy – "on rare occasions" – of forced druggings for certain deportees.

Such medications had been administered to deportees "for their own safety and the safety of people on the plane," he said. In the past, Mr. Rusnok has noted that Mr. Neza came into the U.S. using a false Italian passport and has an order for deportation against him.

On Aug. 8, at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Mr. Neza repeatedly screamed, "I am not a terrorist," when immigration agents tried to board him on a flight.

Airline officials refused Mr. Neza's passage after he told them he was being "illegally deported," according to documents in a federal district court in Abilene.

Though Mr. Neza was denied political asylum, there are two pending appeals. And a judge is expected to make a decision on whether immigration officials can sedate him.

"My main concern is to prevent the deportation," said his attorney, Mr. Gibson. "The drugging is just one more mean thing they are doing to this guy to deliver him into the hands of the assassins. My ultimate goal is to keep him out of hands of the assassins."

Others see it differently.

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that wants tough enforcement of immigration laws, said it's "unwise for someone to go over the heads of those who have adjudicated the case."

As for the possibility of sedation, he added, "We cannot allow policy to exist that if someone yells and screams all bets are off and the laws are not enforced. Otherwise, we'll have a lot of kicking and screaming."

Due process

But such druggings by federal immigration agents are stirring controversy.

In early October, the ACLU filed a motion in federal court in Los Angeles to stop U.S. immigration authorities from forcibly drugging deportees about to board commercial flights.

The ACLU is seeking class action status for its suit, which stems from the forced drugging of an Indonesian minister and a Senegalese man with anti-psychotic drugs.

The issue of forced druggings gained prominence during the nomination hearing of ICE chief Julie Myers on Sept. 12. In her testimony, Ms. Myers said current ICE policy prohibits sedation without a court order, and, thus, the court order provides the deportee due process under the U.S. Constitution.

ACLU attorney Ahilan Arulanantham said the practice raises serious questions.

"Immigrants are not animals, and you cannot forcibly drug them," said Mr. Arulanantham, who has also been in contact with Mr. Gibson, the Dallas attorney for Mr. Neza.

At Cornell Law School, immigration law specialist Stephen Yale-Loehr said the "case raises serious concerns about when the government can forcibly sedate a person to carry out a deportation order."

"A court should review the allegations carefully to make sure Mr. Neza's due process rights are not violated," Mr. Yale-Loehr said.

Arguing safety

In the interim, U.S. government attorneys Scott Frost and Tracy Short argued in a court pleading that "there is exceptionally strong public interest in the enforcement of duly enacted laws of the United States."

Drugging Mr. Neza with a sedative by a psychiatrist employed by the U.S. Public Health Services will have multiple beneficial effects, the attorneys argue in their pleading. "It will prevent Neza from committing assaultive acts against others, it will allow the United States to enforce its immigration laws, and it will ensure the safety of Neza and others during the removal."

The federal government cites a 1996 Texas case involving a deportee with the surname of Bechara, who threatened to bring down the plane if he were forced on the plane.

But Mr. Gibson counters that Mr. Neza made no such threats.

Mr. Neza was apprehended after filing a liquor license application for his Lufkin restaurant, called Joe's Italian Grill.

The government, in court documents, also notes that a state application for a liquor license stated Mr. Neza was a U.S. citizen. False claims to citizenship can result in permanent bars from the country.

No charges have been brought against Mr. Neza, Mr. Gibson said. And the false claim to U.S. citizenship wasn't made by Mr. Neza but by someone filling out the application, Mr. Gibson said in court documents.