A class-action lawsuit filed in the United States says 92 Somalis sat bound and shackled on an airplane for nearly two days, some urinating on themselves, during a botched US deportation attempt.
‘In the early-morning hours of December 7, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Louisiana woke up 92 Somali detainees and shackled them by their wrists, waists, and ankles. The Somalis were then loaded onto a chartered airplane that was supposed to return them to Somalia. But then, for reasons the government has not yet explained, the plane landed in Dakar, Senegal. It sat on the ground for 23 hours and then headed back to the United States, landing in Miami.
The deportees were kept shackled in the airplane for at least 48 hours straight. ICE agents allegedly beat them, restrained them, and dragged them down the aisle. The agents laughed as toilets overflowed and some men urinated on themselves.’ The report said
The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Miami says US immigration agents “kicked, struck or dragged detainees” during the journey that began on December 7.
The lawsuit says the flight to Somalia from Louisiana reached Dakar, Senegal before sitting on the runway for 23 hours and returning to the US because the relief crew was not rested enough.
A judge was to convene an emergency hearing on the matter on December 19th . For now, the detainees are terrified they could be loaded back onto a plane at any moment.
