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 Making sending funds home more fun than hassle. [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] 402-639-1105 _______________________________________________________ Send a cool gift with your E-Card http://www.bluemountain.com/giftcenter/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------