Immigration detention
Mandatory detention refers to the practice of compulsorily detaining or imprisoning people who are considered to be illegal immigrants or unauthorized arrivals into a country.
In the United States, a similar practice began in the early 1980s with Haitians and Cubans detained at Guantanamo Bay, and other groups such as Chinese in jails and detention centres on the mainland.
During the five years between 2003 and 2008, about 104[4] mostly young individuals died in detention of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or shortly afterwards, and medical neglect may have contributed to 30 of those deaths.
[8] In 2009, the Obama Administration pledged to overhaul the current immigration detention system and transform it into one that is less punitive and subject to greater federal oversight.
[14] Detainees can include: asylum seekers without sufficient amount of necessary identification papers, foreign workers whose visas had expired, and people awaiting deportation.
[15] In 2017, Canada received the highest number of asylum claims in its history;[14] between 2017 and 2018, 6609 people were detained in holding centres, compared to 4,248 a year prior.
The long-term detention of immigrant children has also sparked criticism of the practice by citizen's groups such as ChilOut and human rights organizations.
In July 2008, the Australian government announced it was ending its policy of automatic detention for asylum seekers who arrive in the country without visas.
In late 2019, Greece's liberal-conservative government of New Democracy, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced the creation of five closed, pre-departure detention centers for refugees and immigrants, located on the Aegean islands of Leros, Chios, Lesvos, Kos, and Samos.
Centers interned both people already sanctioned to expulsion (as before) and other irregular immigrants pending their proper identification and the individual evaluation of their asylum requests.
[36]: 19 The Maltese detention policy, the strictest in Europe,[citation needed] gathered heavy criticism by the UNHCR for the extensive duration of detention,[37] and in 2004 it was also criticized by the Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe, Álvaro Gil-Robles, as international standards required cautious and individual examination of each case and proper legal checks before incarceration, which were missing in the Maltese legislation.
The Council of Europe also criticised four of the administrative detention centres as in "deplorable conditions" and failing to live up to legally binding international standards[36]: 19–20 The Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs pursued the migrants detention policy nevertheless, justifying it in 2005 by "national interest, and more specifically, for reasons concerning employment, accommodation and maintenance of public order.
"[38] In 2008, an EP-OIM comparative study found that "following a long stay in detention [illegal immigrants] are then released into the community...joining the black market economy and suffering abuse with regard to conditions of work.
[39] The detention policy was criticised, in the following years, by NGOs and international bodies, including Human Rights Watch,[40] the Jesuits[41] and UNHCR.
[42] In 2012, the Council of Europe reiterated that such a policy is contrary to the prohibition of arbitrary detention in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The country currently has one officially designated immigration detention centre, Unidade Habitacional de Santo António, located in Porto.
[45] There are also five Temporary Installation Centres (Centros de Instalação Temporária, CIT) located in each major airport, including that of Porto, Lisbon, Faro, Funchal, and Ponta Delgada.
[46] Expulsion paperwork can be initiated when a foreign person is in one of the following situations:[47] Various civil organizations (e.g. APDHA, SOS Racismo, and Andalucía Acoge) have appealed to the Supreme Court of Spain, declaring the regulations behind the CIEs null and void for violating several human rights.
