When returning to the Gambia from the Canary Islands in 1997, I witnessed
a similar incident: two young Gambians violently resisiting deportation
after being found to carry fake passports to get into Spain. The plane was
delayed for over a day while the Spanish National Guard was called from
Madrid to overpower the men.

On Sat, 12 May 2001, Bamba Laye Jallow wrote:

> INS Request Put on Hold
>
>
> Updated 4:34 PM ET May 11, 2001
> By KRISTEN HAYS, Associated Press Writer
>
> HOUSTON (AP) - Immigration officials asked for a court order Friday that
> would allow them to sedate an African man for deportation to Gambia after he
> violently resisted earlier attempts to put him aboard a plane.
>
> But a federal judge postponed ruling on the request by the U.S. Immigration
> and Naturalization Service until an appeals court can determine whether Musa
> Fofana should be deported at all.
>
> U.S. District Judge David Hittner put the process on hold because of
> questions about whether Fofana would face torture if returned to his native
> country in Africa and whether he should have had an appointed guardian when
> he was ordered deported in August. Fofana has claimed he was 17 at the time.
>
>
> Hittner ordered that Fofana remain in U.S. custody in the meantime.
>
> Fofana claims that he is a native of Sierra Leone but obtained a fraudulent
> 1999 Gambian visa to escape the civil war in his country, said his attorney,
> Okon J. Usoro. Fofana was afraid he would be drafted and forced to fight in
> Sierra Leone's civil war, Usoro said.
>
> Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Rose, however, said records show Fofana is
> from Gambia, not Sierra Leone.
>
> Fofana was caught in Houston last year, and in August an immigration judge
> said he had until Oct. 2 of last year to voluntarily return to Gambia. Since
> he did not leave, authorities planned to deport him on Oct. 24.
>
> But "he resisted transportation to the airport with force and the effort to
> execute the removal order was abandoned," the government said in court
> papers.
>
> Rose said authorities do not want to handcuff or otherwise restrain Fofana
> because he would have to be released for a bathroom break on a long flight
> and he could get violent.
>
> "The air crews on commercial airplanes won't board somebody who is acting
> wild," Rose said. "The authority of the airline captain is like law on that
> point."
>
> The U.S. Marshals Service flies some deported immigrants to their native
> countries in handcuffs aboard noncommercial flights. But Rose said that may
> not be an option in Fofana's case.
>
> "We don't have a lot of deportation orders to Gambia," he said.
>
>
> ======================================================================
>
> Abdoulie A. Jallow
> www.dalasigram.com
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