Refugees Allege Illegal Detention, Forced Sterilization in Montgomery County
A group of more than fifty Himalayan refugees rounded up recently in sweeps of the Wheaton, Maryland area have alleged rights violations and abuse, including illegal detention, forced sterilization, body mutilation, and the separation of children from their parents.
The Montgonion was given exclusive access to one of several remote holding facilities housing the Himalayans. Our reporter found the youngest kept in metal cages, their big blue eyes pleading for attention. Some showed signs of recent body mutilation, their clipped appendages left scabbed and unbandaged. Many cried out, pathetic high pitched squeals in a language no one understood.
The refugee roundups began in August after Maryland-National Capital Park Police discovered groups of recently arrived Himalayan families, most with young offspring, taking shelter in Wheaton Regional Park. A coalition of citizens rejected their settlements, hunted and trapped the trespassers, and turned them over to authorities.
In an emergency petition filed last week in Montgomery County Circuit Court, lawyers from the American Feline Liberties Union allege that upon detention the Himalayans were ushered into chemical baths, given forced inoculations, and housed in small cages. Over the next 72 hours, AFLU attorneys allege, systematic sterilization of young adults and older males and females was performed without consent. Most had no idea the procedures were taking place until they awoke from the anesthesia.
Himalayan young have been separated from their parents and no efforts to reunite families are taking place, according to the AFLU. Vigilant neighbors say during the roundups it was impossible to distinguish family members. "They all look alike to us," said Wheaton resident William Brunn, who claims he helped clear three Himalayans who settled in the woods behind his home near Sligo Creek.
AFLU attorneys point out the level of bias toward the Himalayan population in Wheaton is out of proportion and asked Court for emergency injunctive relief. "There are communities here of Siamese, Persians, even Javanese, and they don't suffer this level of persecution," lawyers argued.
What happens next to the Himalayans won't be determined soon, as any Court order will certainly be appealed. Meanwhile the youngest and healthiest have been moved from detention to foster or halfway facilities, but AFLU advocates say a lack of available space may cause some to languish in county cages for months.
