Detainees Settle Drugging Suit

The L.A. Times reports that two foreign nationals who said they were forcibly drugged by U.S. immigration officials during efforts to deport them have settled their case.  Amadou Diouf, a native of Senegal, will get $50,000, and Raymond Soeoth of Indonesia will receive $5,000 and be allowed to stay in the United States for at least two years, said Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. The ACLU filed the case with the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Soeoth, who was appealing his case for political asylum, alleged that he had been sedated with anti-psychotic drugs in December 2004 at a detention facility. Diouf, who also was pursuing an appeal for permanent legal status, said he was medicated in February 2006 while on a commercial plane at Los Angeles International Airport.

KJ