Wed May 14, 1:21 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.
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The newspaper said it has identified 250 cases in which the government has, without medical reason, given drugs meant to treat serious psychiatric disorders to people it has shipped out of the United States since 2003.

Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees without medical justification is a violation of some international human rights codes, the Post reported.

Records show that the government has routinely ignored its own rules, which allow deportees to be sedated only if they have a mental illness requiring the drugs, or if they are so aggressive that they imperil themselves or people around them.

The Department of Homeland Security's new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) took over deportations in 2003.

ICE has stepped up the arrest and removal of foreigners who are in the United States illegally, who have been turned down for asylum or have been convicted of a crime in the past, the Post reported.

A spokesman for the agency was not immediately available for comment.

(Writing by JoAnne Allen)