At 7:12 pm on March 13, 2012, a man began screaming on Kenya Airlines flight 101. Two British Border Control officers shoved him forcefully into his seat, handcuffing him. “Mugabe will kill me!” he cried out.

The woman sitting to my left looked concerned. “Don't worry,” an officer told her, “they always stop screaming when the flight lifts off.” The man in handcuffs heard this, and said, “I will continue screaming until you get me off this flight.” The border officer shook his head. “Trust me,” he told the woman next to me, “they always stop screaming.”

The man threatened self-harm, but nobody responded. He instead threatened to scream the entire flight, but he was ignored. Finally, as a last resort, he threatened to defecate in his seat. Officials quickly unlocked his handcuffs, and escorted him off the flight.

Everyone relaxed.

Though this event had transfixed the passengers, a similar incident unfolded moments later and passed without notice. A second man, wearing no handcuffs, started making a low moaning noise. He was ignored by the border agents, who were some distance away, and was sitting between two unarmed civilians, one holding a clipboard, the other saying, “It will be fine.” He did not believe her, and continued to make the moaning noise, his voice increasing in volume, his eyes staring at the seatback pocket, and his body shaking in discomfort. He was eventually escorted by the civilians off the flight.

While the screaming man on my flight was being deported, given that he was subject to considerable force, the second man was likely repatriating, accompanied by staff members of an organization or the United Nations (UN).

Around the world, refugees often repatriate with the help of an organization or the UN, with millions repatriating to Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Afghanistan, and dozens of other countries between 2010 and 2018. Some return because they cannot access residency status, work visas, or social services. Others return because, if they remain, they will be forced into enclosed refugee camps, or detention centers where they are told when to eat, drink, sit, and stand. Some return because, though they can live outside camps or detention, they struggle to access suffi-cient nutrition or medical care.