tag:theconversation.com,2011:/nz/topics/asylum-seeker-16568/articlesAsylum seeker – The Conversation2024-01-10T13:32:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2191732024-01-10T13:32:59Z2024-01-10T13:32:59ZRepublicans are pushing for drastic asylum changes – an immigration law scholar breaks down the proposal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568299/original/file-20240108-23-1ap3d1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrants cross through a gap in the U.S.-Mexico border fence on Dec. 22, 2023, in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-cross-through-a-gap-in-the-us-mexico-border-fence-news-photo/1876398355?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is bipartisan agreement for the need for immigration reform and stark disagreement on what that reform should be. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/13/monthly-encounters-with-migrants-at-u-s-mexico-border-remain-near-record-highs/">rise in illegal</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">border crossings since 2020</a> has applied significant pressure for changing under what conditions someone can apply for asylum. This government system is designed to provide life-saving relief for noncitizens afraid of returning to their home countries. </p>
<p>Undocumented migrants entering the United States have few plausible options to legally stay in the country. For many migrants fleeing their countries due to violence, war, government collapse, natural disasters or any personal threats that could harm them, the only legal pathway of immigrating to the U.S. is by receiving asylum. </p>
<p>Conservative Republicans in Congress are now <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4387973-shutdown-risk-grows-with-gops-border-fury/">proposing legal changes</a> that would make it harder for most applicants to get asylum. </p>
<p>The Republicans’ plan is <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4390204-5-things-to-know-about-border-bill-hr2-gop-shutdown-threats/">similar to</a> both a similar rule that the Department of Homeland Security adopted in 2019 and a policy that President Joe Biden is trying to push through. </p>
<p>I am an <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/profile/jean-lantz-reisz/">immigration professor</a> and teach asylum law. I believe it’s important to understand what sets Republicans’ proposed law apart from previous iterations. </p>
<p>The president cannot change the law, but Congress can. If these lawmakers succeed in changing federal asylum law, the law would override the court decisions striking down previous versions. Because Congress has broad power over immigration, the new laws would likely be upheld if challenged in court.</p>
<p>Still, currently, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/refugees-and-asylees-united-states">most people who seek asylum </a> do not receive permission to stay in the country, and they are deported. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People are seen standing in a desert on a grey day with a white SUV nearby." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568300/original/file-20240108-29-cd4px2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Migrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents near the U.S.-Mexico border in Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-wait-to-be-processed-by-the-u-s-border-patrol-news-photo/1876398361?adppopup=true">Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Understanding asylum</h2>
<p>Currently, any noncitizen, including someone who already lives in the U.S. or who entered the country without a visa – <a href="https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1158&num=0&edition=prelim">can apply for asylum</a>. This is true regardless of the person’s legal immigration status. </p>
<p>A person can ask the U.S. government for asylum only once they are in the country or at the border – and they must ask for asylum within a year of arriving in the U.S. </p>
<p>Applying for asylum is a complicated process that could take several years. Undocumented migrants <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/supreme-court-says-detained-immigrants-not-entitled-to-bond-hearing">often apply for asylum</a> while they are detained in an immigration detention center. </p>
<p>Overall, asylum applicants <a href="https://www.usa.gov/asylum">will need to prove</a> that they face severe harm in their home country from their government or someone their government cannot control, like an armed militia group. This potential severe harm must trace back to their race, religion, political opinion, nationality or some characteristic they cannot, or should not have to, change.</p>
<p>Asylum seekers first make their case to a U.S. government asylum officer, who judges the veracity of their claim in an interview. </p>
<p>If migrants pass this <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum/questions-and-answers-credible-fear-screening">first interview</a>, the migrant is allowed to seek asylum before an immigration judge. </p>
<p>At this stage, asylum seekers will need to show extensive evidence of events and other conditions that place them in severe danger if they are deported. Getting this proof is very difficult for asylum seekers, who typically require the help of an attorney to <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/396/">complete this application process</a>. </p>
<p>Even if an applicant meets all of the requirements to get asylum, a judge still has the discretion to decide whether or not this person should receive it. </p>
<p>Judges then give some migrants asylum, allowing them to apply for U.S. green cards, which are the documents that give someone <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/brochures/USCIS_Welcomes_Refugees_and_Asylees.pdf">legal permission to remain</a> in the U.S. They can then lawfully work, receive certain government benefits and eventually apply for citizenship. </p>
<h2>A backlog</h2>
<p>As a result of the rising number of undocumented migrants crossing into the U.S. – increasingly from <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_0818_plcy_refugees_and_asylees_fy2022.pdf">places with widespread government instability</a> and violence, like Venezuela and Honduras – asylum requests are also on the rise.</p>
<p>Asylum cases in immigration court more than tripled <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2023-11/2023_0818_plcy_refugees_and_asylees_fy2022.pdf">between 2021 and 2022</a>, rising from 63,074 to 238,841. And the <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/705/">asylum case numbers continue to grow</a>. </p>
<p>This rise in asylum applications is then coupled with a growing backlog of asylum cases in immigration court. </p>
<p>There are <a href="https://trac.syr.edu/reports/734/">3 million cases</a> still waiting to go before a judge in immigration courts – 1 million of these are asylum cases. In comparison, the average number of backlogged <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Refugees_Asylees_2016_0.pdf">asylum cases</a> from 2012 through 2016 consistently remained below 200,000. </p>
<p>Consequently, people seeking asylum typically <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-migrants-us-asylum-process-legal-limbo/">now wait an average of four years</a> before they have an asylum hearing in court – and, in many cases, may wait longer for a decision that they have appealed. </p>
<p>An asylum seeker may, in some cases, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2023/09/01/new-york-businesses-give-immigrant-work-permits-to-asylum-seekers/?sh=58b60afb4219">apply for a work permit</a> if they must wait more than six months for a decision.</p>
<h2>Republican plan</h2>
<p>Conservative House Republicans are now <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-threaten-government-shutdown-immigration-deal-democrats-rcna132534">threatening a government shutdown</a> that could happen as early as Jan. 19, 2024. They also have blocked more foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, and are using their power over this aid as leverage for changing asylum laws. </p>
<p>Biden, meanwhile, wants Congress to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">approve nearly US$14 billion</a> to pay for more border security agents, as well as asylum officers and immigration judges. </p>
<p>Republicans have rejected Biden’s proposal and instead <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22hr2%22%7D&s=3&r=1">want new laws</a> that would deny asylum to any migrant who passed through a third country while traveling to the U.S., or who did not enter the U.S. at an official port of entry along a border. </p>
<p>These changes target the fact that most migrants who cross into the U.S. without documentation – and apply for asylum – come from countries other than Mexico. But these people, coming from countries like Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba, first pass through Mexico on their way to the U.S. Approximately 71% of the over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/11/12/1212058889/migrants-u-s-southern-border-historic-numbers-why">2.4 million</a> people who were apprehended at the southern border in 2023 traveled through Mexico, but were not <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/border-numbers-fy2023">Mexican citizens</a>. </p>
<p>If this proposed law is passed, these migrants would no longer have a court consider their asylum applications. </p>
<p>Instead, they would not be allowed to apply for asylum. They would be immediately deported back to their own countries. </p>
<p>Democrats have opposed the changes when they were proposed as part of a bill in May 2023, but some <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/what-republicans-democrats-want-do-us-mexico-border-security-2024-01-08/">Democrats are more open</a> to asylum restrictions and may compromise to reach a deal. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People walk along white walls that wrap in a circular manner. The people carry backpacks, children and wear jackets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568301/original/file-20240108-109125-esu3dh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ukrainians who were seeking asylum arrive at the U.S. port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico, in April 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/ukrainians-who-are-seeking-asylum-walk-at-the-el-chaparral-news-photo/1390002303?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Not the first go-around</h2>
<p>The proposed change that would deny asylum to those who have traveled through a third country is identical to a Department of Homeland Security rule that the agency adopted under former president <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asylum-ban-trump-administration-blocked-by-judge-today-2019-07-24/">Donald Trump’s administration in 2019</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/politics/biden-asylum-court-ruling/index.html">Biden has proposed a similar policy</a>, with exceptions for a migrant who obtained special permission to enter the U.S., or who was denied asylum in another country. The <a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/03/05/19-56417.pdf">Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</a> struck down Trump’s rule in 2020 because it violated current asylum law that permits anyone to seek asylum, regardless of how they enter the U.S. </p>
<p>The president cannot change the law. </p>
<p>A federal district court <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/25/texas-biden-asylum-rule-california-judge/">struck down Biden’s policy</a> in July 2023 on the same basis. Biden has appealed <a href="https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/cases-of-interest/east-bay-sanctuary-covenant-v-joseph-biden/">that decision</a>. </p>
<p>Republicans are proposing other laws to make it harder to receive asylum. One change would require asylum seekers to present a large amount of evidence proving their fear of persecution during their first interview with a government asylum officer – not later, when they go before a judge. The law would also end programs that allow migrants to stay with sponsors in the U.S. while seeking asylum. </p>
<p>In summary, the proposed changes would make it almost impossible for a migrant entering through the U.S.-Mexico border to get asylum, even if that migrant has a legitimate fear of returning to his or her home country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Lantz Reisz receives funding from Los Angeles City and County. </span></em></p>A GOP proposal would make it nearly impossible for most migrants now crossing the US border to gain asylum and the right to remain in the country.Jean Lantz Reisz, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Co-Director, USC Immigration Clinic, University of Southern CaliforniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122382023-08-30T21:56:05Z2023-08-30T21:56:05ZCanada warns LGBTQ+ travellers about the U.S., but those seeking refuge here aren’t always welcomed<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canada-warns-lgbtq-travellers-about-the-us-but-those-seeking-refuge-here-arent-always-welcomed" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Canadian government recently issued a <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/global-affairs-canada-issues-lgbtq2s-travel-advisory-for-united-states-1.6539763">travel advisory</a> warning LGBTQ+ people about travel south of the border. </p>
<p>Global Affairs Canada updated its travel advice for the United States to warn LGBTQ+ travellers about state laws that may affect them. <a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/roundup-of-anti-lgbtq-legislation-advancing-in-states-across-the-country">Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in U.S. state legislatures and dozens have been enacted</a>. </p>
<p>Many LGBTQ+ people around the world still face abuse and discrimination, whether it’s from official state policies, family members, peer groups or faith communities. Canada is often seen as a more welcoming country and has become an <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/2slgbtqi-plus.html">attractive destination for many seeking to emigrate</a>. </p>
<p>Canada recognizes same-sex marriage and has laws that protect <a href="https://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection-R/LoPBdP/CIR/921-e.htm">gender and sexual minorities</a>. However, this does not result in a warm welcome. The lived experiences of LGBTQ+ newcomers tell a story that, despite the image of being welcoming, Canada has not made enough progress to protect and welcome LGBTQ+ refugees. </p>
<h2>Challenges for LGBTQ+ newcomers</h2>
<p>Hopes are high that LGBTQ+ refugee transition to Canada will be much safer with the recent announcement of a <a href="https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2023/06/08/providing-lgbtqi-people-safe-home-canada">partnership between the federal government and Rainbow Railroad</a> — an organization that helps LGBTQ+ people fleeing persecution. </p>
<p>Canada presents itself as a nation that offers a warm welcome to individuals of any background. Unfortunately, there is a lot more work needed to make the transition of LGBTQ+ refugees safe and welcoming. Heteronormative ideas dominate social relations in Canada and this influences how refugees are treated.</p>
<p>Say an LGBTQ+ person comes to Canada seeking asylum. They disclose their sexual identity and reasons why they fear returning home to immigration officials. They will gain entry into Canada once officials are satisfied their request for asylum is legitimate. </p>
<p>However, the individual who makes the claim must <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/after-lifetime-of-hiding-gay-refugees-to-canada-expected-to-prove-theiridentity/article34858343/">somehow prove their sexual identity</a> and live up to western stereotypes of LGBTQ+ communities. Doing so can be very difficult. Refugees may likely have had to keep their sexual identity hidden for fear of being persecuted. In addition, they may not identify with western preconceptions of what LGBTQ+ identities should look like. </p>
<p>They also face the added stress of an immigration system that limits the number of refugees admitted. <a href="https://upstreamjournal.org/coming-out-as-an-lgbt-refugee-in-canada/">They run the risk of being returned to a country where they fear being persecuted</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, Canadian society continues to have a strong element of homophobia and transphobia despite the legal protections. LGBTQ+ Canadians face challenges in society that other groups do not. LGBTQ+ youth are <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/population-specific/lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-transsexual-queer">over-represented among the homeless population</a> and face more family and peer rejection than others. <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-record-jump-in-lgbtq-religious-hate-crimes-cases-reported-to-police/">Hate crimes due to sexual identity continue to rise</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00940798.2022.2090263">Research notes</a> that LGBTQ+ refugees experience a lack of access to resources such as health agencies and living arrangements that are specific to their community. They risk losing social support if they live as their authentic selves. LGBTQ+ newcomers often face the choice between living their true identity or hiding it in order to find acceptance.</p>
<p>Newcomers often rely on relatives who are already established in Canada. Yet unaccepting family members can be a source of abuse for LGBTQ+ individuals.</p>
<p>While the transition to another country is difficult for all newcomers, support from an ethnic or religious community can make it easier. However, an LGBTQ+ individual can be in a difficult position if their community is hostile to their identity. Many might experience rejection by faith communities and be fearful of approaching any once they arrive in Canada. </p>
<h2>Creating a supportive environment</h2>
<p>LGBTQ+ refugees can experience a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17525098.2017.1300354">less than welcoming reception</a> in Canada. Racism, homophobia and transphobia are part of the lived experiences of newcomers. The portrayal of Canada as a warm and welcoming country is not always the reality for those who come here. However, there are steps the government can take to make the transition safer. </p>
<p>First, ensure that the refugee process is more LGBTQ+ friendly and is not based off of western stereotypes. Immigration agents need to recognize the difficulty for individuals to prove an identity they’ve spent their entire lives hiding.</p>
<p>Second, Canada can make more of an effort to connect individuals with communities that support the rights of sexual minorities. For instance, there are some efforts among faith communities to be <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/2slgbt-faith-religion-1.6489746">affirming of LGBTQ+ individuals</a>. This has great potential as individuals can find a community that provides the support they may lose from others. </p>
<p>Canada should design and support developing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2017.1298843">resources</a> with the LGBTQ+ community in mind. These can include group counselling sessions, health clinics and doctors trained to work with LGBTQ+ people and supporting social groups where LGBTQ+ individuals can be open and comfortable with others.</p>
<p>Third, governments and experts must continue to teach the public about the need for all individuals to be treated with respect and welcome. Canadian society should not be of the opinion that because official policy has been set then everything has been settled. The general public needs consistent messaging that challenges anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment.</p>
<p>By taking these steps, Canada could live up to the image that all people of all backgrounds are truly welcome here.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Chapados does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada has taken positive steps in recognizing and supporting LGBTQ+ communities. However, that support does not always extend to people seeking asylum.Andrew Chapados, PhD Student, Philosophy, Sociology, Social Justice, University of WindsorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2026992023-03-30T16:38:31Z2023-03-30T16:38:31ZRoxham Road: Asylum seekers won’t just get turned back, they’ll get forced underground — Podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518552/original/file-20230330-28-h7po05.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Image credits clockwise: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik (Biden & Trudeau), DCMR logo, Creative Commons/Daniel Case (Roxham Road street sign), Ryan Remiorz/CP (father comforts son), AP Photo/Charles Krupa (RCMP greet migrants), Unsplash/Ra Dragon (“Refugees Welcome”), CP/Paul Chiasson (a man in handcuffs in 2017 at Québec border).</span> </figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/9d2ad47f-4e56-4783-9e34-f7b76533c734?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>In this episode of <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/roxham-road-asylum-seekers-wont-just-get-turned-back-theyll-get-forced-underground"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a>, migration expert Christina Clark-Kazak explains the devastating consequences of last week’s meeting between United States President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The meeting resulted in significant changes to a cross-border agreement and has already impacted the lives of thousands of asylum seekers attempting to make a life in Canada. </p>
<p>We explore what these changes will mean for those people searching for a safe home who are now being turned away from Canada. We also discuss the racialization of Canada’s immigration policies.</p>
<p>Clark-Kazak, an associate professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, urges Canadians to think critically about who we accept as refugees, and who we turn away. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s important for us, as Canadians, to have this discussion and think very carefully about why certain categories of people coming from certain areas are welcomed with open arms and other people, we’re effectively just slamming the door in their faces.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Claiming asylum in Canada</h2>
<p>What the new amendment basically does is close any irregular border crossings for asylum seekers hoping to cross the U.S.-Canada border. </p>
<p>One of these irregular border crossings is at Roxham Road. Roxham Road is a rural road in upstate New York that crosses the border with the province of Québec. And last year, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1166059860/biden-%5Blink%20text%5D(https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/immigration-experts-concerned-roxham-road-closure-1.6788677)%20and-trudeau-announced-an-agreement-concerning-asylum-seekers">around 40,000 people arrived at this unofficial border crossing, hoping to find their way into new lives in Canada.</a> </p>
<p>To look at it by numbers, this new amendment to the irregular U.S.-Canada land crossing is in sharp contrast to Canada’s limitless welcome to Ukrainian refugees (there is no cap set on the number of migrants from Ukraine to Canada). Last year, <a href="https://www.catholicregister.org/item/35229-canadian-groups-unite-to-aid-ukrainian-refugees">130,000</a> Ukrainian refugees arrived in Canada by air and were given temporary status. In 2015-2016, Canada welcomed <a href="https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/conflict_syria-syrie.aspx?lang=eng">25,000 Syrians</a>. Approximately <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/immigration-experts-concerned-roxham-road-closure-1.6788677">40,000 people</a> crossed at Roxham Road in 2022. </p>
<h2>Confusion and devastation at Roxham Road</h2>
<p>Before the Safe Third Country Agreement, which was signed in 2002, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S., both countries could reject asylum seekers at official border crossings. But there was a small loophole that provided a slim window for people desperately looking for a way into Canada. People who crossed at unofficial border crossings could still claim asylum. </p>
<p>With this new amendment, that slim window gets even smaller. <a href="https://theconversation.com/justin-trudeau-and-joe-biden-are-missing-the-bigger-picture-about-migrant-border-crossings-202546">Migrants can now be turned away at unofficial border crossings as well.</a> The change took effect suddenly on Saturday, causing all kinds of confusion and trauma. </p>
<p>But issues at play at Roxham Road are larger than any one single border crossing. They are intimately connected to global politics including economic inequities, resource extraction, imperialism, colonialism and exploitation.</p>
<p>For many people, turning back is not an option. As Clark-Kazak said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“People will be now crossing at places that are not so visible, that are in the forest, in places that are further from an official border post. And so they’ll need to know how to navigate that. So they will be turning to smugglers. We know this because this happens on the southern border between the U.S. and Mexico all the time.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even with changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement, this journey is a risk that thousands will continue to take.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518285/original/file-20230329-22-mibwts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Image credit: Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Listen and Follow</h2>
<p>You can listen to or follow <em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em> on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/dont-call-me-resilient/id1549798876">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9qZFg0Ql9DOA">Google Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/37tK4zmjWvq2Sh6jLIpzp7">Spotify</a> or <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com">wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts</a>. <a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. Join The Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheConversationCanada">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p>
<h2>In The Conversation</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/3-ways-ottawa-can-rebuild-trust-following-changes-to-the-safe-third-country-agreement-202693">3 ways Ottawa can rebuild trust following changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement</a> by Christina Clark-Kazak</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/justin-trudeau-and-joe-biden-are-missing-the-bigger-picture-about-migrant-border-crossings-202546">Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden are missing the bigger picture about migrant border crossings</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-is-playing-border-politics-again-this-time-with-canada-201142">The U.S. is playing border politics again — this time with Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-stories-reveal-anxieties-about-the-canada-u-s-border-127394">Refugee stories reveal anxieties about the Canada-U.S. border</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/refugee-stories-reveal-anxieties-about-the-canada-u-s-border-127394">Refugee stories reveal anxieties about the Canada-U.S. border</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Transcript</h2>
<p><a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/roxham-road-asylum-seekers-wont-just-get-turned-back-theyll-get-forced-underground/transcript">Unedited transcript of this episode</a></p>
<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2023/03/24/us-canada-migration-deal-aims-to-end-walk-around-crossings/">U.S.-Canada migration deal aims to end walk-around crossings</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims/asylum-claims-2022.html">Government of Canada: Asylum claims by year (2022)</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/ukraine-measures/key-figures.html">Ukraine immigration measures: Key figures</a></p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1043059ar">Ethical Considerations: Research with People in Situations of Forced Migration</a></p>
<p><a href="https://ccrweb.ca/en/action?gclid=CjwKCAjw5pShBhB_EiwAvmnNV2qaCs0vNivmMJuCwaCPGf-RqA3OqZljZBQWgJgLZB0E9EWznoOrNxoCWGMQAvD_BwE">Canadian Council for Refugees</a></p>
<p><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient is produced in partnership with the Journalism Innovation Lab at the University of British Columbia and with a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Migration expert Christina Clark-Kazak explains the devastating consequences of the recent change to the Safe Third Country Agreement made by U.S. President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientOllie Nicholas, Assistant Producer/Journalism Student, Don't Call Me ResilientBoké Saisi, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me ResilientLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1949712022-12-15T18:55:30Z2022-12-15T18:55:30ZA Trump-era law used to restrict immigration is nearing its end despite GOP warnings of a looming crisis at the Southern border<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500788/original/file-20221213-22736-oz0t5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2137%2C77%2C5211%2C4825&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hundreds of asylum-seekers gather on the banks of the Rio Grande to enter the U.S. on Dec. 12, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hundreds-of-migrants-who-left-shelters-in-juarez-yesterday-news-photo/1245569901?phrase=mexico%20immigration&adppopup=true">Jose Zamora/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A key component of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies is currently set to expire on Dec. 21, 2022.</p>
<p>Officially called <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2010-title42/html/USCODE-2010-title42-chap6A.htm">Title 42 of the U.S. Code</a>, the little-known law was established initially in 1944 to prevent the spread of influenza and allow authorities to bar entry to foreigners deemed to be at risk of spreading the disease. </p>
<p>In March 2020, on the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, then-President <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/29/immigration-title-42-biden/">Donald Trump invoked the law</a> to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>But Trump and his advisers had another <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/coronavirus-immigration-stephen-miller-public-health.html">goal</a> as well – closing the U.S.-Mexico border and restricting the number of new immigrants.</p>
<p>Indeed, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/title-42-migrants/index.html">ruled in November 2022</a> that the Trump administration’s implementation of Title 42 was “arbitrary and capricious,” blamed the CDC for failing to come up with reasonable alternatives and reluctantly extended the November expiration date to Dec. 21 to allow the Biden administration to prepare for the increase in cases filed by asylum-seekers.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/ernesto.cfm">immigration researcher and expert on international borders</a>, I have followed border crossing trends and the effects of Title 42. </p>
<p>In my view, the end of Title 42 will not weaken border security. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/desantis-abbott-using-open-border-myth-to-justify-moving-migrants-rcna48844">Nor will it mean that the U.S. has “open borders</a>” or that we will have a crisis in border states, as many conservative politicians and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/rise-migrants-border-title-42s-future-remains-unclear/story?id=95156907">commentators</a> claim. </p>
<h2>More than a million migrants expelled</h2>
<p>While the Trump administration was reluctant to impose federal lockdowns or mask mandates at the start of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2020/08/26/fact-check-and-review-of-trump-immigration-policy/?sh=2688d3be56c0">it was aggressive</a> in its use of Title 42 to close the border to people fleeing from persecution who have the legal right to make their asylum claims. </p>
<p>As written, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2010-title42/html/USCODE-2010-title42-chap6A.htm">Title 42 of the U.S. Code</a> allows for the “suspension of entries and imports from designated places to prevent spread of communicable diseases.” </p>
<p>In practice, the law enabled U.S. law enforcement officers to immediately deny entry to asylum-seekers and other migrants.</p>
<p>During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/04/27/key-facts-about-title-42-the-pandemic-policy-that-has-reshaped-immigration-enforcement-at-u-s-mexico-border/#">around 51% of the people</a> encountered at the border were immediately expelled or put into deportation proceedings as a result of Title 42. </p>
<p>U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that over <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">1 million people</a> were denied entry under Title 42 alone in each of the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years.</p>
<p>In October 2022 alone there were more than <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/southwest-land-border-encounters">204,000 encounters</a> along the U.S. southern border and over 78,400 expulsions under Title 42, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.</p>
<p>After being sent back, asylum-seekers and migrants often try to enter more than once and are counted separately each time by the authorities. This <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-number-of-encounters-at-the-southern-u-s-border-does-not-mean-what-the-gop-says-it-means-191144">inflates the counts</a> of encounters at the border significantly.</p>
<h2>The number of border encounters may decline without Title 42</h2>
<p>In the short term, I would expect to see that the end of Title 42 will mean an increase in the number of asylum applications being processed, and the federal government has said it is prepared for a surge. </p>
<p>In fact, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mayorkas-maintains-dhs-plan-title-42-end-despite-fears-new-migrant-wave-southern-border">Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas</a> has said repeatedly that he has a six-point plan in place to cope with the expected immediate surge in numbers when Title 42 is lifted.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Thousands of people are lined up near a concrete barrier." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500798/original/file-20221213-21230-fa7efg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants traveling in a caravan of more than 1,000 people wait in 2022 at the U.S.-Mexico border to file for political asylum in the U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-travelling-in-a-caravan-of-more-than-a-thousand-news-photo/1245562490?phrase=mexico%20immigration&adppopup=true">Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my view, after some months, the lifting of Title 42 will actually result in a decrease in the official number of border “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-number-of-encounters-at-the-southern-u-s-border-does-not-mean-what-the-gop-says-it-means-191144">encounters</a>,” because fewer people will be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/22/immigration-border-biden-trump/">counted multiple times</a> and the traffic jam created by the border closure to asylum-seekers will eventually ease.</p>
<p>Both Republicans and a few Democrats want to keep Title 42 in place, at least temporarily, to stem the flow of migrants across the U.S. border.</p>
<p>For example, Sens. John Cornyn, Republican from Texas, and Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, and Texas Reps. Tony Gonzales, a Republican, and Henry Cuéllar, a Democrat – among others – have appealed to President Joe Biden <a href="https://thehill.com/latino/3773715-bipartisan-lawmakers-call-on-biden-to-extend-title-42/">to extend Title 42</a>.</p>
<p>What these lawmakers do not say is that Title 42 was originally designed to prevent the spread of a highly contagious disease – not to deny people their legal right to make a claim for asylum in the U.S.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194971/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernesto Castañeda does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Title 42 has triggered criticisms from immigration advocates and public health experts. But some still want to keep it in place and delay accepting asylum-seekers.Ernesto Castañeda, Associate Professor of Sociology, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1874152022-08-02T17:24:37Z2022-08-02T17:24:37ZCanada must grant permanent immigration status to undocumented residents<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477181/original/file-20220802-13-5zg4yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A woman takes part in a protest in Montréal in January 2021 to demand status for all workers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the December 2021 <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2021/12/16/minister-immigration-refugees-and-citizenship-mandate-letter">mandate letter</a> to the newly appointed Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Liberal government tasked him with exploring “ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities.” </p>
<p>Sean Fraser <a href="https://www.cicnews.com/2022/07/canadas-immigration-minister-wants-to-make-good-on-mandate-letter-commitments-for-refugees-and-undocumented-workers-0727639.html#gs.70cv21">has since said</a> he’s working on designing a regularization program that can help address this issue. </p>
<p>In May, MPs passed <a href="https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/89339/motions/11528727">motion M-44</a> urging the government to design a plan to provide permanent residency to temporary foreign workers. If planned and executed correctly, these programs could be a historic opportunity to improve the lives of up to 1.7 million people who live in Canada without a secure status. </p>
<h2>Demanded action</h2>
<p>In July 2021, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/solidarity-across-borders-downtown-montreal-protest-1.6107740">migrants and advocates in Montréal</a>, Toronto, Edmonton and St. Catharines held rallies demanding that the programs be inclusive, comprehensive and permanent.</p>
<p>Now the question is whether the government will create a program that can provide status to all undocumented and temporary residents through permanent residency permits, or whether it will create a small symbolic program that will fail to properly tackle the issue. </p>
<p>There’s a lot at stake.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/irregular-migration">Most industrialized countries</a> host a substantial number of undocumented residents. It’s an institutionally produced phenomenon that occurs when migrants travelling in search of safety, work, love or community encounter immigration and refugee policies that provide only limited protection to asylum-seekers and precarious and temporary permits to immigrants. Canada is no exception.</p>
<p>Our immigration system is geared towards temporary and conditional permits, many of them lacking a clear pathway to permanent residency and citizenship. Every year, <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-reports-parliament-immigration.html">more migrants enter Canada with temporary permits</a> than permanent ones. This leaves them undocumented when their permits expire.</p>
<p>Strategies that make it possible to circumvent our international obligations towards asylum-seekers, in particular the <a href="https://bmrc-irmu.info.yorku.ca/files/2020/03/Asylum-Seekers-Safe-Third-Country-Resilience-Final-March-2020.pdf?x82641">Safe Third Country Agreement</a> as well as an <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/28/it-time-change-definition-refugee">outdated definition of “refugee,”</a> also leave many people without protection and official status to remain in the country.</p>
<p>Without addressing these root causes, regularization programs are only a temporary fix to a problem that was institutionally produced. However, these programs have tremendous positive outcomes for both migrants and society. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black woman in tears holds a sign that says The USA is Not Safe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476378/original/file-20220727-17-qf5tp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman cries as she participates in a protest outside the Federal Court of Canada building for a hearing regarding the designation of the United States as a safe third country for refugees in Toronto in November 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Common in the EU</h2>
<p>Regularization is <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/sites/default/files/2009-04/docl_8193_345982803.pdf">a common policy tool in the European Union</a>. France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Poland and many other countries all routinely implement regularization programs. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ubcpress.ca/governing-irregular-migration">Spain</a>, for example, implemented ad hoc programs under both conservative and progressive governments <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2018.1522561">that regularized more than a million people</a> between 2000 and 2006. It then launched a permanent ongoing mechanism to provide status to undocumented residents.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45407663">less common in Canada</a>, regularization programs have been implemented in the past. Under Pierre Trudeau’s government in 1973, some 39,000 people were regularized as part of the <a href="https://www.kairoscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Regularization-of-NonStatus-Immigrants-in-Canada-1960-2004.pdf">Adjustment of Status Program</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man comforts a woman, who has her hand on her face as she cries." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476379/original/file-20220727-1345-oswk7b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Algerian man comforts his wife as she covers her face during a 2002 news conference in Montréal. The couple was ordered deported by Immigration Canada after finding refuge in a city church, but eventually acquired permanent residence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But so far, the Canadian approach has been extremely restrictive, limiting access to relief programs to specific nationalities or people with specific family or work situations. <a href="https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32079">A 2002 program</a> that provided status to only 900 Algerians is a good example of the Canadian government’s lack of ambition. </p>
<p>The mention of “undocumented workers” in Fraser’s mandate letter makes us fear this restrictive trend may continue.</p>
<h2>Benefits, potential policy pitfalls</h2>
<p>Regularization programs <a href="https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/regularisations-instrument-reduce-vulnerability-social-exclusion-and-exploitation">have many benefits</a>. </p>
<p>For migrants and those concerned about their well-being and rights, such programs can provide safety, stability and access to rights and family reunification. </p>
<p>For the government, a well-designed program can “reset” the growing population of people without status or at risk of losing it, thereby remediating a problem produced by years of policies favouring temporary and conditional permits. </p>
<p>Regularization can also provide a boon to the economy and the labour market by allowing workers to move from precarious jobs to more stable and better work in sectors where their skills are most needed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man works in a farmer's field among rows of seedlings. A tractor is in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476385/original/file-20220727-7627-okxowq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A worker from Mexico plants strawberries on a farm in Mirabel, Que., in May 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-treat-migrant-workers-who-put-food-on-our-tables-dont-call-me-resilient-ep-4-153275">How we treat migrant workers who put food on our tables: Don't Call Me Resilient EP 4</a>
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<p>For regularization programs to be effective policy tools, they need to be inclusive and comprehensive. Here are some potential pitfalls: </p>
<p>1) Imposing a low arbitrary cap on the number of permits available, while useful for budgeting and staffing purposes, would make the program inaccessible to most. </p>
<p>2) Limiting the program to undocumented workers in specific sectors would have the sole purpose of addressing labour market needs while failing to recognize undocumented residents’ contributions in all sectors of the economy and society. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/guardian-angels-quebec-residency-1.5962835">The “guardian angels” initiative</a> — a program that provided a pathway to permanent residency to a few asylum-seekers who worked in very specific health-care jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic — has taught us that such an approach risks imposing restrictive professional criteria that would disqualify many workers. </p>
<p>3) Providing only temporary and conditional permits would be counter-productive because those permits are largely responsible for the growing number of undocumented residents in Canada. </p>
<p>This is a historic opportunity to tackle a long-standing problem and start rethinking our immigration and refugee model. </p>
<p>In the next few months, we’ll see whether the government intends to use this policy tool to its full potential or settle for a small symbolic program that will fail to bring about long-term structural change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Regularization programs that help refugees and migrants become permanent residents have tremendous positive outcomes for both migrants and society.Peter Nyers, Professor of Political Science, McMaster UniversityDavid Moffette, Associate Professor of Criminology, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of OttawaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1857582022-07-28T12:25:13Z2022-07-28T12:25:13ZWestern countries are shipping refugees to poorer nations in exchange for cash<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475506/original/file-20220721-24-ynnef4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=595%2C109%2C3967%2C3030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta shakes hands with U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rwandan-foreign-minister-vincent-biruta-r-shakes-hands-with-news-photo/1239993628?adppopup=true">Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.K. government was due to begin its first deportation flight to remove asylum-seekers to the East African country of Rwanda on June 14, 2022, exactly two months after signing the <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/rwanda-uk-sign-major-deal-on-asylum-seekers-amid-criticism/2564054">U.K.-Rwanda agreement</a>. The asylum-seekers were from several <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/8/uk-rwanda-deportation-refugees">war-torn and politically unstable countries</a>, including Syria, Sudan and Iran. </p>
<p>Each year, thousands of people – many fleeing repressive governments or poverty – attempt to cross the English Channel in fragile boats in the hope of starting a new life in the U.K.</p>
<p>Boris Johnson, the U.K. prime minister, defended the U.K.-Rwanda deal in June 2022, saying it would “<a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/britains-boris-johnson-defends-migrant-deal-on-rwanda-visit">remove the illegal cross-Channel trafficking of people whose lives are being put at risk</a>.”</p>
<p>In exchange for Rwanda receiving the deportees, the U.K. has paid the country <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/united-kingdom-great-britain-and-northern-ireland/uk-rwanda-agreement-represents-another-blow">about US$142 million</a> to cover the initial costs of operating the program as well as economic development projects in Rwanda. </p>
<p>The U.K. deportees were expected to <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/rwanda-uk-sign-major-deal-on-asylum-seekers-amid-criticism/2564054">integrate their lives into Rwandan social communities</a>. </p>
<p>But the first Rwanda deportation flight did not take off as planned. </p>
<h2>Deterring refugees and asylum-seekers</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=home">European Court of Human Rights</a>, the regional judicial human rights body in Europe, issued what are called <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-deportations-what-is-the-european-court-of-human-rights-and-why-did-it-stop-the-uk-flight-from-taking-off-185143">interim urgent measures</a> to stop the scheduled flights. </p>
<p>Such measures are most often issued in cases where there is <a href="https://ijrcenter.org/european-court-of-human-rights/">imminent risk of death or torture</a>. </p>
<p>Member states are bound by the decisions of the Court, and its rulings are enforced by the Committee of Ministers of the <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/about-us/who-we-are">Council of Europe</a> – Europe’s leading human rights organization.</p>
<p>But instead of abiding by the decision, the U.K. government not only <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/253313d2-cc88-406e-8cc4-da48e66781a4">stressed its commitment to deportation flights</a>, it also signaled its intention to pull out of the European Court of Human Rights.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/sajjad.cfm">scholar of refugees and postwar reconstruction</a>, I see the deportation flights to Rwanda as part of a growing list of what are euphemistically known as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/233150241700500103">migrant deterrence practices</a>. These practices are used by Western countries to deter future migration of mainly people of color from countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, collectively known as the Global South. </p>
<p>In exchange for money paid to the receiving country, asylum-seekers are sent to those poorer countries to enable wealthier nations to circumvent international legal obligations to those seeking asylum.</p>
<h2>Beyond Rwanda</h2>
<p>The use of countries like Rwanda by Western states is on the rise. </p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/explainer-the-migrant-protection-protocols/">U.S.-Mexico Migrant Protection Protocol</a> and the U.S.-Guatemala <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/30/trumps-safe-third-country-agreement-with-guatemala-is-a-lie/">“third country safe” agreement</a> follow a similar principle. </p>
<p>Since 1992, Australia has had <a href="https://time.com/13682/australia-asylum-seeker-policy-compared-to-guantanamo/">a mandatory detention policy</a> for “unauthorized” arrivals, which have included asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>Since 2001, it has also been <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/australias-refugee-policy-overview">removing asylum-seekers</a> to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/10/a-short-history-of-nauru-australias-dumping-ground-for-refugees">Nauru</a> – a poor island country in the Pacific Ocean – for processing. </p>
<p>This has been the case even if arrivals applied for asylum in mainland Australia immediately upon arrival. </p>
<p>According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “<a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/7/60f558274/unhcr-statement-on-8-years-of-offshore-asylum-policy.html">externalization of Australia’s asylum obligations has undermined the rights of those seeking safety and protection and significantly harmed their physical and mental health</a>.”</p>
<p>European countries have also been pursuing similar programs with <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2061930">Libya</a>, <a href="https://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40878-019-0128-4">Morocco</a>, <a href="https://euobserver.com/migration/154812">Egypt, Tunisia</a> and West African nations such as <a href="https://www.asileproject.eu/eu-external-migration-management-policies-in-west-africa/">Nigeria</a>. </p>
<p>They each provide financial aid packages to the respective low-income countries in exchange for preventing migrant mobility and absorbing deported asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>Thus far, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/austria-tells-europe-to-imitate-uks-rwanda-migrant-deal-7trf5p3w6">Austria</a>,
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/15/sending-uk-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-will-save-money-says-minister">Denmark and the Flemish far-right in Belgium have welcomed</a> the U.K.-Rwanda agreement with the hope that more European states will seek partnerships with countries outside the continent to address irregular immigration. </p>
<p>Johnson’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-62070755">resignation</a> on July 7, 2022, is not expected to halt the U.K. government’s plans to continue deportations to Rwanda. But in a new turn of events, Rwanda said on July 22 that it can only <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/22/rwanda-can-hold-just-200-channel-migrants-cant-stop-returning/">accommodate 200 deported asylum-seekers</a> and will not be able to stop their efforts to cross the English Channel again.</p>
<h2>The 2022 Nationality and Borders Act</h2>
<p>Deportations to Rwanda are part of the U.K.’s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/36/contents/enacted">2022 Nationality and Borders Act</a>, a law that drastically changed citizenship and asylum rules in the U.K. </p>
<p>In addition to deportations, the act allows the government to <a href="https://theconversation.com/stripping-british-citizenship-the-governments-new-bill-explained-173547">strip citizenship</a> from British people without notice for reasons related to, among other things, national security or counterterrorism. </p>
<p>In the U.K., the reasons to strip citizenship can be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1743872116655305">defined broadly</a> and may affect about <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/12/exclusive-british-citizenship-of-six-million-people-could-be-jeopardised-by-home-office-plans">6 million Britons from immigrant backgrounds</a>.</p>
<p>The 2022 Nationality and Borders Act also allows for the criminal prosecution of those who cross the English Channel on small boats to seek asylum. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/">U.N. Refugee Agency</a> has criticized the legislation on which the act is based for being at “<a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/615ff04d4.pdf">odds with the United Kingdom’s international obligations under the Refugee Convention</a>.” These obligations include “not expelling refugees who are lawfully in the territory except on grounds of national security or public order.”</p>
<h2>Back into chaos</h2>
<p>Deportations under such conditions are controversial because they are violations of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">principle of non-refoulement</a> in international refugee law. </p>
<p>The goal of the principle is to prevent individuals from being returned to countries where they have fled and may still be in danger of torture, persecution or death.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a police officer stands on the beach and watches people get off of a lifeboat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A British police officer stands guard as migrants disembark from a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea while attempting to cross the English Channel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-police-officer-stands-guard-on-the-beach-of-news-photo/1241322925?adppopup=true">Ben Stansall / AFP/via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite this, the U.K. and other European countries have continued to deport asylum-seekers to such places.</p>
<p>Between 2007 and 2016, <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/politics/uk-underestimates-number-of-young-deported-to-war-zones/519001">the U.K. deported</a> 2,748 young people to war-torn and unstable countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria. </p>
<p>At least <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2015-07-16/schooled-in-britain-deported-to-danger-uk-sends-600-former-child-asylum-seekers-back-to-afghanistan">605 of them were Afghans</a> who had arrived unaccompanied as asylum-seeking children from their war-ravaged country.</p>
<p>According to Amnesty International, many of the deportees face <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/european-governments-return-nearly-10000-afghans-risk-death-and-torture-new-report">arbitrary detention, kidnapping, torture and even death</a> in the the countries where they’re sent. </p>
<p>In addition, studies have shown deportations like the kind that have taken place in Europe have caused long-term damage. </p>
<p>These include <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00148/full">undue burdens</a> on family members, such as loss of family income to meet basic needs, <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2021/reports-highlight-the-harms-faced-by-uk-families-threatened-with-a-family-members-deportation">family separation</a> that causes psychological damage including depression and trauma, especially in children. </p>
<h2>Rwanda’s acceptance of asylum-seekers</h2>
<p>In recent years, Rwanda has become a host country for approximately <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/rwanda/unhcr-operational-update-rwanda-february-2022">130,000 refugees</a> from around East Africa, particularly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.</p>
<p>In addition, between 2013 and 2018, Israel paid <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-pay-rwanda-5000-every-african-refugee-it-accepts">$5,000 for every African migrant deported to Rwanda</a> under a “voluntary” migration agreement. </p>
<p>Israel made a <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4424022,00.html">similar arrangement with Uganda</a>. Under the terms of the controversial arrangement, several thousand Sudanese and Eritrean asylum-seekers had to <a href="https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/10/moving-under">choose between immigration detention</a> in Israel or to “voluntarily” agree to be deported to Rwanda and Uganda. </p>
<p>Many of those deported to Rwanda have consistently <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2018-02-02/ty-article/asylum-seekers-who-left-israel-for-rwanda-warn-those-remaining-dont/0000017f-db59-d856-a37f-ffd97da60000">struggled with lack of documentation and poverty, and have mostly fled the country</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-61882542">attempted to return to Europe</a>. </p>
<p>Facing international and national criticism, the Israeli program was later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/02/israel-agrees-un-deal-scrap-plan-deport-african-asylum-seekers">abandoned</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A UK plan to move asylum seekers on its shores to Rwanda has been met with stiff opposition from human rights organizations. But the UK persists, and Rwanda is all too willing.Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1870592022-07-20T16:56:58Z2022-07-20T16:56:58ZDebunking the myth of the ‘evil people smuggler’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475224/original/file-20220720-11760-4t8hrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C20%2C4469%2C2959&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel (left) and Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta (right) sign a deal on April 14, 2022, that would send some asylum-seekers in the U.K. thousands of miles away to Rwanda. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Muhizi Olivier)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/debunking-the-myth-of-the--evil-people-smuggler-" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In 2022, the number of forcibly displaced people surpassed <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/insights/explainers/100-million-forcibly-displaced.html">100 million worldwide</a>. Nearly <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/resettlement-gap-record-number-global-refugees-few-are-resettled">1.5 million refugees</a> will need resettlement in 2022, but <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/resettlement.html">less than one per cent of refugees</a> will be resettled. </p>
<p>Across the globe, the declining rate of refugee resettlement and the absence of legal avenues has <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/boat-arrivals/">forced refugees to use smugglers to cross borders</a> to access refugee protection. </p>
<p>In response to these trends, high-income countries have introduced draconian deterrence measures that prevent people from reaching their territory to claim asylum. </p>
<p>By virtue of their irregular arrival, refugees who enlist smugglers to claim asylum are <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/desperatejourneys/">criminalized and and often pushed back</a>, which prevents them from accessing the rights of refugee status outlined in the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a>. </p>
<h2>The ‘Rwanda Plan’</h2>
<p>The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of efforts to deter and prevent refugees from seeking asylum on its territory. The U.K. has an established track record of using draconian measures to deter migrants. </p>
<p>When she was home secretary in 2012, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa-may-windrush-migrants-hostile-environment-b2086746.html">Theresa May stated</a> that her aim “was to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.” She later served as prime minister. Successive governments have maintained this agenda, culminating in the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/14/europe/uk-rwanda-migrant-deal-gbr-intl/index.html">U.K. and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership</a>. </p>
<p>The “Rwanda Plan” involves transferring asylum seekers and migrants arriving “illegally” in the U.K. — such as those crossing the English Channel in boats — to Rwanda, where they will be processed and resettled.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman giving a speech from behind a podium" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel speaks to the media after signing what the two countries called an ‘economic development partnership’ in Kigali, Rwanda on April 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Muhizi Olivier)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The plan has been widely condemned by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/14/european-court-humam-right-makes-11th-hour-intervention-in-rwanda-asylum-seeker-plan">international courts</a>, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/06/01/an-abomination-charities-react-as-uk-orders-first-migrant-deportation-flight">charities</a>, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/13/rwanda-deportation-plan-branded-national-shame-church-england/">religious groups</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/stars-urge-commonwealth-to-oppose-uk-plan-to-send-refugees-to-rwanda">celebrities</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2cca92d7-f771-4501-9a17-f91cdfae2bdc">asylum seekers</a>. The UN Refugee Agency has “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1116342">firmly opposed</a>” the partnership and re-emphasized that state actions that prevent refugees from reaching destination countries and claiming asylum lead to the shifting, rather than the sharing, of responsibilities to protect asylum seekers.</p>
<p>In her speech on April 14, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/oral-statement-on-rwanda">Home Secretary Priti Patel argued</a> the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Evil people smugglers and their criminal gangs are facilitating people into Europe, resulting in loss of life and huge costs to the U.K. taxpayer. The tragic loss of life of people in the Channel and in the Mediterranean at the hands of those evil smugglers must stop.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In pursuing its deterrence agenda, the U.K. has shifted the blame for dangerous and deadly journeys away from its hostile policies, toward a new faceless boogeyman: evil people smugglers. By doing this, the Rwanda Plan is presented as a way to protect vulnerable people from smugglers. </p>
<p>Secretary Patel’s comments reflect a strategy that has been adopted by many wealthy nations in response to the rising number of asylum seekers arriving “illegally.” By portraying smuggling as dangerous, criminal and deadly, these nations obscure the role violent borders play in contributing to the conditions under which migrant smuggling proliferates.</p>
<h2>Letting nations off the hook</h2>
<p>The narrow portrayal of smugglers as evil, greedy criminals provides a convenient scapegoat for governments, policymakers and journalists. The figure of the smuggler offers an ideal boogeyman for our anxious times because they embody an external danger that states can protect citizens against.</p>
<p>By framing the global crackdown on migrant smuggling as a battle between good and evil, wealthy nations hide <a href="https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs/14/">the role their policies play</a> in creating the global market for smuggling in the first place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of men are escorted by several border force officers in bright yellow vests" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Border Force officers escort a group of men thought to be migrants to a waiting bus in the port city of Dover, England, in August 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, culpability for these tragedies is attributed to unscrupulous smugglers, stereotypically represented as “<a href="https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/rwanda-deal-johnson-speech-patel-presser/">people smuggling gangs</a>” that prey on the vulnerabilities of people on the move. </p>
<p>While it may be politically advantageous to portray smugglers as criminals, and smuggled people as victims of exploitation and abuse, this characterization is disingenuous and serves to rationalize draconian deterrence measures that violate the right refugees have to seek asylum.</p>
<h2>The migrant smuggling industry</h2>
<p>To be sure, migrant smuggling is a growing industry for organized crime. Smugglers facilitated the irregular transit and entry of roughly 2.5 million migrants in 2016 and made an estimated profit of <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glosom/GLOSOM_2018_web_small.pdf">US$7 billion</a>. </p>
<p>In the pursuit of profit, smugglers often take advantage of migrants and asylum seekers who are vulnerable to violence, theft, sexual assault and extortion. Nearly <a href="https://missingmigrants.iom.int/data">50,000 migrants have died since 2014</a>, many drowning in the Mediterranean on risky journeys facilitated by smugglers. </p>
<p>However, the stereotypical accounts of migrant smuggling, based on graphic stories of violence, exploitation and profit maximization, is limited. As <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003043645-32/war-smugglers-expansion-border-apparatus-lorena-gazzotti">migration scholar Lorena Gazzotti states</a>, this portrayal of smugglers as “an inherently deviant, dangerous figure is deceiving.” </p>
<p>Organized crime researchers <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/migrant-refugee-smuggler-saviour/">Peter Tinti and Tuesday Reitano</a> provide some additional nuance: “It is certainly true that smugglers profit from the desperation of others, but it is also true that in many cases smugglers save lives, create possibilities and redress global inequalities.” </p>
<h2>Narrative needs to shift</h2>
<p>Organizations like the International Organization for Migration also characterize smugglers in black-and-white terms: “the large-scale smuggling of migrants across international borders is a <a href="https://www.iom.int/counter-migrant-smuggling">global threat</a> to migration governance, national security and the well-being of migrants.” They offer their services to help states “disrupt migrant-smuggling operations.” </p>
<p>While signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention are <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3bcfdf164.pdf">prohibited from punishing asylum seekers</a> for using smugglers to enter a country of refuge “illegally,” refugee claimants who enlist the services of intermediaries are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44484134">often cast as “bogus refugees.”</a> Those who aid the entry of asylum seekers for humanitarian reasons are also criminalized and demonized by governments as “smugglers.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Someone holding a sign that says 'Refugee rights are human rights'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters stand outside The Royal Court of Justice in London that will hear a legal challenge opposing the Home Office’s new asylum deal with Rwanda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is illustrated in the <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2022/06/08/How-LGBTQI-to-LGBTQI-support-is-helping-Ukrainian-refugees-find-safety-in-the-EU">criminalization of the evacuation of LGBTQ+ refugees from Ukraine</a> and the criminalization of aid for refugees <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/06/20/european-activists-fight-criminalisation-aid-migrants-refugees">throughout Europe</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/smuggling-of-migrants-and-refugees.html">UN Refugee Agency recognizes</a> that people fleeing persecution are often forced to resort to smuggling. Despite this, the prevailing narrative around migrant smuggling has clouded the public’s understanding of the issue by obscuring the role smuggling plays in helping refugees gain asylum and rationalizing a global crackdown on refugees in the name of combating evil smugglers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The prevailing narrative around migrant smuggling has clouded the public’s understanding of the issue by obfuscating the role smuggling plays in helping refugees gain asylum.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaCorey Robinson, Lecturer in International Relations, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807792022-07-20T01:14:25Z2022-07-20T01:14:25ZDoes Australia’s harsh asylum seeker policy matter to the average Australian? It depends whether they have to get off the couch<p>The Albanese government’s turnback of a Sri Lankan <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-government-turns-around-its-first-asylum-seeker-boat-20220524-p5ao2y.html">asylum seeker vessel</a> just a day after being sworn in suggests it’s business as usual for Australia’s treatment of arrivals by boat. </p>
<p>Ever since the 2001 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/22/the-tampa-affair-20-years-on-the-ship-that-capsized-australias-refugee-policy">Tampa Incident</a> – when a freighter rescued several hundred drowning refugees from a dilapidated fishing boat but was prevented from bringing them to Australian shores – “boat arrivals” have featured prominently in public debates.</p>
<p>Australia’s <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/australias-refugee-policy-overview">draconian</a> refugee policies receive bipartisan support and high <a href="https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/asylum-seekers">public approval</a>, despite attracting widespread criticism overseas. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/attitudes-and-action-in-international-refugee-policy-evidence-from-australia/543308408106402667E9207B58289708">new research</a>, we asked Australians what they thought of the country’s boat arrivals policy – and studied whether their views changed when they were told the policies breached international law, were immoral, or harmed Australia’s international reputation.</p>
<h2>International criticism</h2>
<p>The UN has repeatedly told Australia its boat arrivals policies <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/30/australias-asylum-boat-turnbacks-are-illegal-and-risk-lives-un-told">violate international law</a>, including a key <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/09/un-reports-australias-immigration-detention-breaches-torture-convention">anti-torture treaty</a>. They also breach the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/national-inquiry-childen-immigration-detention-background-paper-1-introduction">UN Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>. </p>
<p>Doctors Without Borders says the mental health suffering in detention facilities is among the worst it has <a href="https://msf.org.au/sites/default/files/attachments/indefinite_despair_3.pdf">seen</a>. Others describe the facilities as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jul/08/un-human-rights-expert-decries-boat-turnbacks-as-australia-criticised-for-secrecy-of-on-water-matters">cruel and inhumane</a>. </p>
<p>Still others argue Australia’s policy <a href="https://theconversation.com/cruel-costly-and-ineffective-australias-offshore-processing-asylum-seeker-policy-turns-9-166014">harms its international reputation</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-the-ground-at-australias-universal-periodic-review-50525">entrenching the nation’s pariah status</a> on the issue.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1039315247956467713"}"></div></p>
<h2>Our study</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-organization/article/abs/attitudes-and-action-in-international-refugee-policy-evidence-from-australia/543308408106402667E9207B58289708">recent research</a> involved a survey using a nationally representative sample of over 2,000 Australians. </p>
<p>We found that over 56% of them agreed or strongly agreed with the policy. Only 37% disapproved or strongly disapproved. That’s generally consistent with what <a href="https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/asylum-seekers/">other surveys have found</a>, although those views <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/polls-apart-how-australian-views-have-changed-on-boat-people">may be shifting</a>.</p>
<p>We were also specifically interested in whether it matters how Australia’s policy is framed. </p>
<p>After (randomly) dividing our respondents into four groups, we then told one group that Australia’s policy breached international law, one group that it was immoral, and one group that it harmed Australia’s international reputation. The fourth group received no additional information.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-temporary-visa-system-is-unfair-expensive-impractical-and-inconsistent-heres-how-the-new-government-could-fix-it-185870">Australia's temporary visa system is unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent. Here's how the new government could fix it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Everyone who received negative information was more critical of current policy. It isn’t altogether surprising that negative information makes people more negative. But given how entrenched Australia’s policy has become, it’s interesting that attitudes are still movable.</p>
<p>Even more interestingly, we found that describing current policy as a breach of international law is far more effective at dampening support than describing it as morally egregious or harmful to our international reputation.</p>
<p>Of the three frames, the international reputation argument got the least traction. This lends some credence to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s claim that Australians are “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/tony-abbott-australians-sick-of-being-lectured-to-by-united-nations-after-report-finds-antitorture-breach-20150309-13z3j0.html">sick of being lectured to by the UN</a>”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1528613628081225729"}"></div></p>
<h2>Getting people to act is much harder</h2>
<p>We did find emphasising international law or morality makes people more willing to mobilise (compared to accentuating reputational harm). </p>
<p>But overall, most people just aren’t motivated to take political action – even if they strongly dislike the policy. </p>
<p>Our study found less than 30% of respondents were willing to sign a petition against current policy, and less than 10% were interested in protesting or donating.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-biloela-family-are-going-home-but-what-will-labor-do-with-thousands-of-other-asylum-seekers-in-limbo-in-australia-183621">The ‘Biloela family’ are going home – but what will Labor do with thousands of other asylum seekers in limbo in Australia?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These findings are consistent with a longstanding body of research which shows people are less willing to mobilise as the costs of action go up. </p>
<p>They also corroborate an age-old challenge for activists. Most forms of political activism involve some cost in terms of time or money. Particularly when your own rights or interests aren’t at stake, turning that outrage into action rarely looks as appealing as staying on the couch.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jill Sheppard is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery grant (DP210101517).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jana von Stein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our study found that overall, most people just aren’t motivated to take political action against Australia’s refugee policies – even if they strongly dislike them.Jill Sheppard, Senior Lecturer, School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National UniversityJana von Stein, Associate Professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1845222022-06-13T12:29:32Z2022-06-13T12:29:32ZImmigrants are only 3.5% of people worldwide – and their negative impact is often exaggerated, in the U.S. and around the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467598/original/file-20220607-20-e7lvii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6700%2C4463&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Academic research plays an important role in helping dispel myths and misconceptions about migration.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-participate-in-a-special-memorial-day-naturalization-news-photo/1241038894">Spencer Platt/Getty Images News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>-<em><a href="https://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/ernesto.cfm">Ernesto Castañeda</a> is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at American University and the Director of the <a href="https://www.ernestocastaneda.com/immigrationlab.html">Immigration Lab</a>. Castañeda explains why immigration is an important force counteracting population decline in the U.S. and why that matters to the economy and America’s global power. Below are highlights from an interview with The Conversation. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.</em></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Ernesto Castañeda speaks about his work studying immigration and migration.</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong>What do you study?</strong></p>
<p>I direct the Immigration Lab where we conduct research around migration – in all its aspects. For example, emigration – people leaving their countries of origin; or internal migration – people moving within a country. There are millions of people living in a different province or state than where they were born, such as in China or the U.S. We also study international migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, people that cross borders looking for economic opportunities or trying to reunite with family.</p>
<p>We have studied refugees from Central America in Washington D.C., as well as from Afghanistan. We have also compared immigrants from Latin America in New York and those from North Africa in European <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cities-help-immigrants-feel-at-home-4-charts-97501">cities</a>. I’ve been studying migration since 2003, so almost 20 years.</p>
<p><strong>Immigration is a hot topic now. How different are they than when you started studying it 20 years ago?</strong></p>
<p>It’s funny because in the media we always highlight the new things, and there are indeed new twists and turns, new characters. But the story, the dynamics, the human drama, the structural issues are basically the same. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s why it’s easier to understand new crises, because immigration researchers have seen something similar happening in the past.</p>
<p><strong>How politicized is immigration?</strong></p>
<p>Immigration is something that has been with us for a long, long time. It’s something that is going to keep happening. It’s something that no one state can fully stop forever. But unfortunately, since as long as I can remember, it is something that has been politicized. There are a lot of misunderstandings by people in the public. Especially because politicians have, for a long time and in different places, used this topic for their short-term political advantage. So it’s something that is recurrent. Nonetheless, when I meet immigrants every day, the realities of their lives and what they are going through are very different from what you hear from the mouths of politicians and from a lot of media outlets.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://american.academia.edu/ErnestoCastaneda">research</a> has tried to understand what happened in the past and what’s going on right now in the streets in order to try to improve our understanding about immigration. If you look at all types of data, there are way more <a href="https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/immigrants-to-the-u-s-create-more-jobs-than-they-take">opportunities</a> born of migration than problems.</p>
<p><strong>The latest census shows that if it wasn’t for immigration, the US population would actually be in decline. So there’s a lot on the line as far as available workers, yes?</strong> </p>
<p>Yes, although some people think that the decline of immigration is not a bad thing, especially if it means maintaining a white majority. Yet immigration is not about a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/08/a-deadly-ideology-how-the-great-replacement-theory-went-mainstream">great replacement</a>” conspiracy but about the maintenance of a successful trajectory of economic growth, cultural vibrancy, scientific and technical innovation. In the economic system that we live in, one of the main ways that the economy keeps growing is by bringing in new labor. Cultural differences disappear across time and family generations. Furthermore, we are talking about changes around the edges. The great majority, over 80%, of the U.S. population has been and will likely continue to be U.S.-born.</p>
<p>Early in the pandemic, people were scared, and rightly so. It made sense to reduce air travel, border crossings and refugee resettlement. In the last couple of years, because of Title 42, which allows the government to prohibit the entry of persons who potentially pose a health risk at ports of entry, even asylum seekers have been sent back to Mexico and made to wait there. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, just in the U.S., we have lost over a million people because of COVID-19. People are also worried about inflation. But inflation has also been made worse by COVID deaths, people staying out of the workforce and by declining immigration, all resulting in a scarcity of workers. </p>
<p>So in the last couple of years we’ve seen an important decrease in migration while American couples have on average two children, keeping the population <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/12/us-population-grew-in-2021-slowest-rate-since-founding-of-the-nation.html">barely growing</a>. So, the current population will not grow without immigration. Declining population growth also means a decrease in economic growth and the influence of the U.S. abroad. If this occurs, then you’d have to be ready to make less money and spend more in goods and services. I don’t think we’re ready for that to be the norm. If we stop taking immigrants in, innovations, population and economic growth will take place in a different part of the globe.</p>
<p><strong>In your almost 20 years of research, what’s one thing that would surprise someone who is not in the field you’re studying?</strong></p>
<p>It’s important for everyone to know that most people do not want to leave their hometown. Most people want to stick around because that’s where their loved ones, family members and friends are. It is the place they know, and they have an attachment to the place. It takes a lot – like an invasion, hunger, a great educational or professional opportunity – to want to leave your home.</p>
<p>Another thing that’s important to know is that <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/international-migration-2020-highlights">only around 3.5% of the world</a> population lives in a different country than where they were born. There are as many people moving within China as through international borders. So, international migration is a very important phenomenon for immigrants themselves – we’re talking about the futures of many individuals and families. But in terms of the global population, it’s a very small proportion. And this is not because of immigration deterrence and border fences.</p>
<p>So we’re talking about an exception. Unfortunately, politicians and people make it sound like it’s the main problem. </p>
<p>People may think that immigrants are more likely to commit crime, yet it is the opposite. Immigrants are much <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/9/3/24/htm">less likely</a> to commit any crimes than the U.S.-born. They are also <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27013329/">less likely to use drugs</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498585651/Building-Walls-Excluding-Latin-People-in-the-United-States">border wall</a> is a monument to intolerance and racism that actively stigmatizes people in the area. Anti-immigrant policies and speech are driven by national politics, scapegoating, misinformation, and dramatic images about caravans, border camps, and border crossers without providing the full context and actual descriptions of reality. There are a lot of myths around migration, but when you look at the data qualitatively, quantitatively, in different societies, in different periods, it is almost the opposite from what people think. That is why academic research on immigration is very important to rectify the story.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184522/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernesto Castañeda has received funding from NIH, NSF, and American University. </span></em></p>A sociologist shares what his research has taught him about migration.Ernesto Castañeda, Associate Professor of Sociology, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822252022-05-13T12:14:38Z2022-05-13T12:14:38ZA court case against migrant activists in Italy offers a reminder – not all refugees are welcome in Europe<p>As many European countries <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/05/1095466197/whats-a-good-word-for-the-welcome-given-to-ukrainian-refugees-in-europe-generous">welcome Ukrainians</a> fleeing war, recent charges against a migrant advocate in Rome offer a reminder that popular <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/anti-immigrant-attitudes-rise-worldwide-poll/a-55024481">anti-migration sentiments</a> persist across Europe.</p>
<p>Andrea Costa, the president of Rome-based migration nonprofit <a href="https://baobabexperience.org/">Baobab Experience</a>, was <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/40301/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted">recently acquitted</a> on charges of facilitating <a href="https://www.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/it/post/usi-ed-abusi-delle-disposizioni-contro-il-favoreggiamento-dellimmigrazione-clandestina-in-italia">illegal migration</a> – a form of <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/migration-and-asylum/irregular-migration-and-return/migrant-smuggling_en">migrant smuggling</a>. </p>
<p>Costa and two volunteers with Baobab Experience faced up to 18 years in prison after they purchased bus tickets for African migrants trying to travel from Rome to Genoa in 2016. </p>
<p>An Italian judge dropped charges against <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/40301/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted">Costa and his co-workers</a> on May 9, 2022, because the <a href="https://www.ansa.it/english/newswire/english_service/2022/05/03/rome-migrant-centre-head-cleared-of-illegal-immigration-5_a0400d10-c872-400c-97d0-a60957380e00.html">“crime was nonexistent</a>.” </p>
<p>Migrant activists are celebrating the recent court decision as a victory for groups like Baobab that offer help to people in transit trying to find safety in Europe. But <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=83Lb0dwAAAAJ&hl=en">as a scholar</a> of Mediterranean migration and asylum in Europe, I think it is important to keep in mind that the smuggling allegation still sends a message that authorities in Italy – and across Europe – view providing humanitarian assistance as potentially criminal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a blue shirt speaks into a voice amplifier while rows of people sit behind him on steps" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrea Costa, director of the migrant rights group Baobab Experience, protests with migrants in Rome in August 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/migrants-and-a-group-of-volunteers-of-the-garrison-organized-by-in-picture-id827371216?s=2048x2048">Andrea Ronchini/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Migrant homelessness</h2>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911">1 million migrants</a> crossed the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, fleeing violence and political and economic instability in Africa and the Middle East in hopes of finding refuge in Europe. </p>
<p>Since 2015, migrants have continued to journey to Europe from other unstable regions, with Ukraine as the latest – and largest – <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/un-ukraine-refugee-crisis-is-europes-biggest-since-wwii/">displacement in Europe</a> since World War II. </p>
<p>The increase in arrivals in 2015 became known globally as Europe’s <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2015/12/56ec1ebde/2015-year-europes-refugee-crisis.html">“refugee crisis</a>.” The large influx of people tested European Union countries’ migration and refugee policies, and <a href="https://rm.coe.int/annual-report-on-ecri-s-activities-covering-the-period-from-1-january-/16808ae6d6">racist, anti-immigrant sentiments</a> grew throughout Europe. </p>
<p>European Union countries also <a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/ch16-over-troubled-waters.pdf">scaled back rescue operations</a>, leaving <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2021/01/12/migration-central-mediterranean-timeline-rescue">thousands of migrants to drown</a> at sea. </p>
<p>In the meantime, <a href="http://aei.pitt.edu/80163/1/LSE_No_94_DocumentingMigration.pdf">migrant homelessness</a> increased across Europe. </p>
<p>In Italy, some migrants chose to live on the streets rather than stay in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2016/08/italys-migrant-hotspot-centres-raise-legal-questions">overcrowded reception centers</a>, some of which had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/01/migrants-more-profitable-than-drugs-how-mafia-infiltrated-italy-asylum-system">ties to organized crime</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/4a9d13d59.pdf">European Union policy</a> mandates that migrants register their asylum claims in the country where they first enter the region. For many, their first stop was Italy, where migrants live in <a href="https://www.vuesdeurope.eu/en/brief/an-overview-of-reception-conditions-for-asylum-seekers-across-european-countries/">reception centers</a> while authorities process their claims. At these centers, migrants receive meals and basic aid, but they have limited options for working or for integrating socially while waiting on their cases. The asylum process is slow, and migrants can wind up living in <a href="https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/italy/reception-conditions/short-overview-italian-reception-system/">reception centers</a> for two years while waiting to hear if they can get legal protection and stay in Europe. </p>
<p>In 2016, the health nonprofit Doctors Without Borders documented <a href="https://www.msf.fr/communiques-presse/out-of-sight-informal-settlements-2nd-edition">at least 10,000 migrants</a> living in <a href="https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/urban-governance/key-policy-challenges/informal-settlements/">informal settlements</a> throughout Italy. </p>
<h2>The case in question</h2>
<p>Through my research at migrant <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1536504218776959">camps</a> and Italian migrant <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/recognising-refugees/paynter">reception centers</a>, I have observed how local nonprofits play an important role in meeting migrants’ basic needs when national and local governments fail to do so. </p>
<p>In 2016, Baobab Experience operated an <a href="https://lavocedinewyork.com/mediterraneo/2016/07/25/campo-profughi-citta-migranti-via-cupa/">unofficial encampment</a> in a street called Via Cupa in Rome, where homeless migrants could stay in tents, and where volunteers provided them with free meals, medical care and legal aid.</p>
<p>In October 2016, police closed down the camp, leaving residents without shelter. Rome’s reception centers were already overcrowded. Nine Chadian and Sudanese migrants who had been living in Via Cupa decided to travel to a <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/10248/rise-in-migrants-in-ventimiglia-red-cross-camp">Red Cross migrant camp</a> in Ventimiglia, along the French border. </p>
<p>Costa and two other volunteers purchased these migrants bus tickets to Genoa in October 2016. One volunteer accompanied them there and then farther west to the camp in Ventimiglia. </p>
<p>Italy’s Anti-Mafia Directorate, a national investigative body that combats organized crime and has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/04/30/italy-anti-mafia-migrant-rescue-smuggling/">handled cases related to trafficking in immigration since 2013</a>, alleged that the ticket purchase constituted migrant smuggling. Rome prosecutors <a href="https://nowheadline.com/migrants/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted/">charged Costa</a> and his colleagues with aiding and abetting illegal immigration.</p>
<p>The aid workers earned nothing from the exchange, nor did they transport anyone across an international border. But <a href="https://www.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/en/post/uses-and-abuses-of-the-anti-smuggling-law-in-italy">under Italian law</a>, investigators do not have to prove that someone profited off of migrants to charge them with smuggling. </p>
<h2>Criminalizing aid in Europe</h2>
<p>In recent years, local and national authorities in France and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/93yk55/decade-of-hate-italy-matteo-salvini">Italy</a> and <a href="https://ecre.org/malta-intensifies-crackdown-on-rescuing-organisations-while-deaths-in-the-mediterranean-are-on-the-rise/">Malta</a> have brought criminal charges against groups providing humanitarian assistance to migrants. </p>
<p>Since 2017, for example, some nonprofit rescue ship crews who <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/italy-ngos-argue-over-migrant-rescue-code-of-conduct/a-39825332">refused to sign</a> an Italian government recommended <a href="https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/community/2017/08/16/expert-views-should-rescue-ngos-sign-mediterranean-code-of-conduct">code of conduct</a> allowing armed police to board their vessels have faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/04/refugee-rescuers-charged-in-italy-with-complicity-in-people-smuggling">charges of working with human smugglers</a>. </p>
<p>This political shift has created a culture of uncertainty, where humanitarian assistance comes with legal risk. Other cases also speak to this trend.</p>
<p>In Greece, for example, Irish citizen Seán Binder and Syrian refugee Sara Mardini <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/magazine/greece-migration-ngos.html">face a long list of charges, including money laundering, espionage and trafficking</a>, for their work helping migrants with the Greek search-and-rescue nonprofit Emergency Response Center International. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men wearing life jackets and masks sit with small children in a motorboat at sea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children were among the stranded migrants rescued by a search-and-rescue boat in French waters on May 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/migrants-are-rescued-by-crew-members-of-the-abeille-languedoc-ship-picture-id1240573049?s=2048x2048">Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A moment in European politics</h2>
<p>The acquittal of the Baobab Experience president and volunteers comes at a moment that has revealed contradictory ideas of who deserves refuge in Europe. </p>
<p>In early April, Costa and a group of volunteers returned from Moldova to Italy, bringing with them several people fleeing Ukraine. “We crossed five international borders … to the applause of authorities,” Costa said at an April 14 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=297985892517022">press conference</a>. </p>
<p>A few weeks later, Costa’s 2016 bus fare purchase for migrants from Africa’s Sahel region risked landing him in prison, as the case had just reached a judge in May 2022.</p>
<p>Some migration aid groups are trying to highlight this discrepancy and hold national authorities accountable for policies that they say result in migrants’ dying. </p>
<p>Italian far-right politician Matteo Salvini, for example, faces federal charges of kidnapping in Palermo for his <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211023-italy-s-former-interior-minister-salvini-stands-trial-on-migrant-kidnapping-charges">attempts to close ports to rescue ships</a> in 2019. Charges allege that Salvini’s “closed ports” policy prevented the Open Arms ship from bringing rescued migrants to safety, essentially holding them hostage at sea. <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211023-salvini-s-moment-has-passed-fading-champion-of-italy-s-right-wing-on-trial-for-migrant-kidnapping">Several migration</a> groups are serving as civil parties in the <a href="https://mediterranearescue.org/en/news-en/mediterranea-civil-party-in-the-case-against-salvini/">case against Salvini</a>. In Italy, civil groups can sign on to a criminal case to support legal charges. </p>
<p>Costa’s case now joins other recent court cases in Europe that involve rescue and humanitarian groups and have also resulted <a href="https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/sites/default/files/2018-italy-report-informal-refugee-settements.pdf">in dropped</a> charges.</p>
<p>In France, Cédric Herrou, a farmer charged with smuggling after he drove migrants across the border from Italy, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/world/europe/france-migrants-farmer-fraternity.html">cleared of wrongdoing</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>Italy brought charges against German national Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea Watch rescue ship, but eventually dropped them. Rackete was arrested in 2019 after she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/more-than-1m-raised-for-rescue-ship-captain-carola-rackete-italy">entered Italian waters without permission</a> to disembark 40 rescued migrants in the port of Catania. </p>
<p>Cases like these give hope to migrant rights and aid groups. But the allegations still send a broader political message that not all assistance is welcomed.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60492918">Migrants themselves</a> are confronting <a href="https://www.borderline-europe.de/unsere-arbeit/kheiraldin-abdallah-und-mohamad-paros3-zu-ingesamt-439-jahren-haft-verurteilt-weil-sie?l=en">extreme sentences</a> on smuggling charges. Rescue crews also face <a href="https://iuventa-crew.org/2022/03/10/italy-launches-its-biggest-trial-against-sea-rescue-ngos/">similar allegations</a> – meaning that European groups helping migrants continue to operate in uncertainty about whether they will be able to continue their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Paynter has conducted ethnographic research in camps operated by Baobab Experience.</span></em></p>Italian aid workers charged with helping migrants travel through the country were acquitted in May 2022. But migrants are often not well received in Europe, despite a welcome of Ukrainian refugees.Eleanor Paynter, Postdoctoral Associate in Migrations, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1827092022-05-13T10:55:34Z2022-05-13T10:55:34ZThe UK’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda raise four red flags<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462260/original/file-20220510-16-a45d3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">British Home Secretary Priti Patel (left), and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta, seal asylum seeker deal with a handshake.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many others, I was surprised and upset to hear about the UK’s new deal to offload its responsibility to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/14/tens-of-thousands-of-asylum-seekers-could-be-sent-to-rwanda-says-boris-johnson">tens of thousands</a> of asylum seekers to Rwanda. The plan is for Rwanda to process and host such refugees indefinitely. </p>
<p>I have spent 12 years researching and working with refugees in East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes region, with a specific focus on livelihoods and survival. The experiences of Rwandan refugees I have interviewed who have fled the country as well as refugees within the country are often heartbreaking.</p>
<p>The United Nations and many other institutions and individuals have condemned the UK-Rwanda Deal. The UN called it <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2022/4/62585e814/un-refugee-agency-opposes-uk-plan-export-asylum.html">a breach</a> of international law and Amnesty International labelled it as “<a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/uk-banishing-people-seeking-asylum-rwanda-appalling">appalling</a>”. Criticism includes that it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/priti-patels-rwanda-plan-for-uk-asylum-seekers-faces-its-first-legal-challenge">derogates</a> from the principle of territorial asylum, namely that people have the right to access the national asylum process in the country that they enter. The first <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/07/priti-patels-rwanda-plan-for-uk-asylum-seekers-faces-its-first-legal-challenge">legal action</a> states that both international law and the UN 1951 Refugee Convention have been breached, along with British data protection law. </p>
<p>Both my <a href="https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/people/evan-easton-calabria-1">research findings</a> and personal connections with Rwandan refugees make me seriously concerned about this move. Here I share the biggest red flags. These include Rwanda’s poor human rights record; the treatment of arriving asylum-seekers; and the offloading of responsibility for asylum seekers by the UK onto Rwanda, and other poor refugee-hosting countries, and to aid agencies in the region.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/outsourcing-asylum-seekers-the-case-of-rwanda-and-the-uk-180973">Outsourcing asylum seekers: the case of Rwanda and the UK</a>
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<h2>Rwanda’s human rights record</h2>
<p>The first red flag is Rwanda’s human rights record, and thus the environment that awaits asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-speech-on-action-to-tackle-illegal-migration-14-april-2022">claimed</a> that Rwanda is “one of the safest countries in the world”. This label is useful for some actors – like host countries and donors – but not for refugees themselves. </p>
<p>While Rwanda has widely been presented as peaceful and stable since the 1990s, <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/annual-report-rwanda-2013/">evidence-based reports</a> by institutions, including the United Nations and Amnesty International, have challenged this narrative. The UK Government itself has – <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/37th-universal-periodic-review-uk-statement-on-rwanda">as recently as 2021</a> – cited ongoing concern about the Rwandan Government’s restrictions to civil and political rights and media freedom. </p>
<p>Like Rwandans, all asylum seekers and refugees who become resident in Rwanda are faced with the suppression of freedom of speech and right to associate, along with the risk of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture in government detention facilities. This risk is echoed by Rwandan refugees I have interviewed in Uganda, including several whose abuse by government authorities left them disabled. </p>
<p>In addition to the risk of human rights violations for asylum-seekers within Rwanda, there is a deep worry that the authoritarian approach of the Rwandan government is being further legitimised through this deal.</p>
<h2>Treatment of refugees</h2>
<p>Relatedly, the second red flag, and my primary consideration, is how asylum seekers and refugees will be treated upon arrival in Rwanda. </p>
<p>This deal builds on the offshoring approach first pioneered by <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/migration-facts/0/steps/34241">Australia</a>. In an offshoring scenario, asylum seekers arriving in Australia are immediately transported to a so-called “regional processing centre”. These are in Papua New Guinea, in the Republic of Nauru (Nauru) or on Manus Island. Since the new policy was implemented in 2013, <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/">4,183</a> people have been transferred offshore. </p>
<p>The UN, and human rights groups and organisations have <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2017/7/597217484/unhcr-chief-filippo-grandi-calls-australia-end-harmful-practice-offshore.html">long denounced</a> the approach and its inhumane policies. Upon arrival, asylum seekers are essentially treated like prisoners, with <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/02/australia-appalling-abuse-neglect-refugees-nauru">multiple rights violated</a>, including through arbitrary detention and denial of medical care.</p>
<p>Those granted refugee status can either remain in detention, locally integrate on Manus or Nauru with limited prospects, or –- much more commonly –- be resettled in a third country such as the United States. </p>
<p>Asylum seekers who arrive in Australia by boat (or have since 19 July 2013) are permanently banned from settling in Australia even if they are legally recognised as refugees. </p>
<h2>Offloading responsibility</h2>
<p>Building on this, the third red flag is that the UK is offloading the responsibility of asylum seekers onto other countries. </p>
<p>This is problematic in part because Rwanda –- like the majority of the world’s main refugee-hosting countries –- is a low-income country with a poverty rate of <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/RWA.pdf">approximately</a> 38%. The UK-Rwanda deal thus reinforces the troubling status quo of where refugees are hosted in the world, with <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/">85% hosted</a> in developing countries. The UK-Rwanda deal is, according to some, nothing other than <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-uks-plan-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-is-21st-century-imperialism-writ-large-181501">21st century imperialism</a>. </p>
<p>Disturbingly, offloading responsibility to other (poorer) countries is increasingly legitimised by other western countries. For instance, in 2016 the EU Bloc made a <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/eu-turkey-deal-five-years-on">landmark deal with Turkey</a> to prevent irregular migration from Turkey to Greece. Taking this one step further, in November 2021 the Danish government put <a href="https://mjps.ssmu.ca/2022/04/11/the-danish-bill-l-226-offshoring-asylum-outsourcing-hope/">forward a bill</a> to externalise asylum claims, with asylum seekers to be relocated out of the EU during the asylum process. </p>
<p>Given these recent precedents, the UK’s new scheme is much more of a continuation of a worrying trend than an innovation. </p>
<h2>More work for aid agencies and other host countries</h2>
<p>The fourth red flag is that the UK government’s refusal to take responsibility for asylum seekers within its own territory puts an increased onus on others. Ironically, this includes humanitarian agencies which are funded by the UK.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/taking-stock-of-rwanda-as-a-host-for-refugees-112424">Taking stock of Rwanda as a host for refugees</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>The UK will reportedly pay Rwanda <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/uk-minister-overruled-officials-concerns-about-plan-send-migrants-rwanda-2022-04-19/">£120 million</a> (about US$148 million) for the initial 5-year arrangement, which will include the costs of accommodation and integration as well as delivering asylum operations. </p>
<p>However, despite all the costs in getting them there and processing them, many asylum seekers may not choose to stay. This means that humanitarian programmes funded by the UK and other countries will have much more work to do in assisting these people in Rwanda and elsewhere. </p>
<p>There’s evidence of this in the <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/israel-secret-deal-over-deporting-african-migrants-reckless-and-illegal">secretive deal that Israel made with Rwanda and Uganda</a> to send African asylum seekers to the East African nations between 2014 and 2017. Research <a href="https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/IWasLeftWithNothing.pdf">shows</a> that the vast majority of refugees immediately left again. This often happened through <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/10/moving-under">dangerous northern migration routes</a> in an attempt to reach Europe. </p>
<p>If asylum seekers leave Rwanda on such routes, it could strain the resources of UK-funded programmes, such as one addressing <a href="https://devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk/projects/DK-CVR-20699310-DF231251/summary">unsafe migration</a> through and from Ethiopia. </p>
<p>And, if asylum seekers choose to leave Rwanda and settle in nearby refugee-hosting countries, the need for donor assistance in those places will only increase. </p>
<p>Currently the UK-Rwanda deal is being <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rwanda-legal-challenge-priti-patel-home-office-uk-b2066640.html">challenged</a> – as it should be. It undermines every human being’s right to seek asylum, the larger norm of territorial asylum, and commitments enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention. Problematically, outsourcing responsibility means outsourcing unnecessary challenges to asylum seekers themselves as well as to Rwanda and the nearby countries which may ultimately host these refugees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Easton-Calabria does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The deal undermines every human being’s right to seek asylum and commitments enshrined in the Refugee Convention.Evan Easton-Calabria, Senior Researcher at the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, and Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769452022-03-31T12:44:57Z2022-03-31T12:44:57ZAfghan evacuees lack a clear path for resettlement in the U.S., 7 months after Taliban takeover<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455297/original/file-20220330-25-3vwwi5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. has evacuated 84,600 Afghans since August 2021, but many of these people remain in a legal limbo.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/in-this-handout-provided-by-us-central-command-public-affairs-us-air-picture-id1234876758?s=2048x2048">Master Sgt. Donald R. Allen/U.S. Air Forces Europe-Africa via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Russia’s war against Ukraine has resulted in more than <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">4 million</a> Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country. </p>
<p>The United States said on March 24, 2022, that it would welcome <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/03/24/remarks-by-president-biden-in-press-conference-7/">100,000 Ukrainian refugees.</a></p>
<p>The Ukrainian refugee situation continues to overshadow another refugee crisis. That crisis stems from the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/30/afghanistan-update-last-us-troops-leave-kabul-ending-evacuation.html">U.S. military’s official withdrawal</a> from Afghanistan in August 2021. </p>
<p>Since the withdrawal, approximately <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/02/19/operation-allies-welcome-announces-departure-all-afghan-nationals-us-military-bases">84,600</a> Afghans were evacuated to the U.S. </p>
<p>It is estimated that thousands of Afghans vulnerable to the Taliban have been left behind. </p>
<p>“There are still Afghans being killed by the Taliban because we haven’t gotten them out of the country,” U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/some-lawmakers-worry-afghan-refugees-will-be-forgotten/">said on March 28</a>. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VjFPaPEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">a scholar</a> of refugees and post-conflict reconstruction, I believe that the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/17/time-running-out-address-afghanistans-hunger-crisis">deteriorating situation</a> in Afghanistan will continue to result in rising numbers of refugees in the years to come. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Children and adults are seen from a distance in front of beige, white and blue tents, all fenced in" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455054/original/file-20220329-26-ibervt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Afghan evacuees at a U.S. military base in Germany in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/young-evacuees-from-afghanistan-are-playing-and-running-around-at-the-picture-id1345674198?s=2048x2048">Lukas Schulze/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>A hasty retreat</h2>
<p>Prior to the U.S. military withdrawal, Afghanistan produced the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/worlds-5-biggest-refugee-crises">second-largest number</a> of refugees in the world, topping <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/afghanistan-emergency.html">2.6 million</a>. The largest refugee crisis comes from 11 years of war in <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/syria-refugee-crisis-explained/">Syria</a>.</p>
<p>Following the Soviet Union invasion in 1979, the majority of Afghan refugees have fled to <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/news/20210823-where-do-afghanistans-refugees-go.cfm">Iran and Pakistan</a>. Since then, ongoing civil war and violence as well as the U.S. invasion in 2001 prompted more people to seek refuge in these countries.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/afghanistan-humanitarian-crisis-famine-foreign-aid-taliban">humanitarian needs</a> in Afghanistan now grow, Afghans continue to cross into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/world/asia/afghanistan-migration-refugees.html">these</a> countries. </p>
<p>The U.S. evacuation of Afghan refugees in 2021 was the largest evacuation effort in U.S. history since the 1975 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Newlife-P-J-Ryan/dp/1885372094">Operation New Life</a>, when 110,000 Vietnamese refugees were evacuated to Guam after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/15/saigon-fall-kabul-taliban/">fall of Saigon.</a></p>
<p>President Biden called the Afghan evacuations an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/08/31/biden-afghanistan-evacuation-extraordinary-success.html">“extraordinary success.”</a> </p>
<p>But there was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/16/1028081817/congressional-reaction-to-bidens-afghanistan-withdrawal-has-been-scathing">bipartisan condemnation</a> in Congress of the hasty nature of the withdrawal and evacuations, which resulted in many Afghans and some American citizens being left behind. </p>
<h2>Refugee system cuts</h2>
<p>In September 2021, the White House requested Congress to authorize <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/09/07/white-house-asks-congress-billions-afghan-resettlement/5758104001/">$6.4 billion</a> and received <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/funding-bill-will-help-afghans-resettle-integrate/">$6.3 billion</a> for Afghan resettlement.</p>
<p>But the nine <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/us-resettlement-partners.html">U.S. refugee resettlement agencies</a> designated to welcome and support refugee arrivals have still struggled to assist the large number of Afghans because of limited staff and continued funding shortages.</p>
<p>This is partially because during the Trump administration, there were severe cuts to <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2019-09-27/us-refugee-agencies-wither-trump-administration-cuts-numbers-historic-lows">the number of refugees allowed in to the U.S.</a> President Donald Trump also cut <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/refugee-organizations-scramble-settle-afghans-years-trump-era/story?id=79812415">budgets for refugee spending.</a> </p>
<p>Afghan evacuees in the U.S. also continue to face legal and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1083029733/afghan-refugees-resettlement-housing-jobs">logistical</a> challenges in their long-term resettlement process. </p>
<h2>Difficult to stay in US</h2>
<p>Typically, the U.S. admits foreigners like Afghans who might fear to return to their home countries <a href="https://www.state.gov/refugee-admissions/">as either refugees</a> or, less often, <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/refugees-and-asylum/asylum">asylum recipients</a>. Both of these options allow non-citizens to legally work and live in the U.S., and to eventually gain citizenship. </p>
<p>For Afghan evacuees, the legal pathways to stay permanently in the U.S. are complicated.</p>
<p>Some of the recent Afghan evacuees are recipients of
<a href="https://www.rescue.org/article/evacuations-afghanistan-what-afghan-special-immigrant-visa-siv-program">special immigrant visas</a>. These visas have gone to those who worked closely with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and give benefits like work permits and a clear pathway to becoming citizens. </p>
<p>The majority of the evacuees, however, received <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/orr/Benefits-for-Afghan-Humanitarian-Parolees.pdf">humanitarian parole</a> - a temporary status given for emergency humanitarian situations. This is valid for up to two years. </p>
<p>On March 16, 2022, the Biden administration also announced that Afghans already living in the U.S. would receive <a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/temporary-protected-status-overview">Temporary Protected Status</a>. This gives Afghans legal work permits, but only lasts for 18 months.</p>
<p>The Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IN/IN11903">estimates</a> 74,500 Afghan nationals could be eligible for this status. </p>
<p>Some Afghan resettlement advocates are pushing for Congress to <a href="https://www.hias.org/sites/default/files/factsheet_afghan_adjustment_act_november_2021.pdf">pass legislation</a> that would allow certain Afghan evacuees to apply for permanent legal status in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A U.S. soldier stands in front of a sign that says " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455055/original/file-20220329-27-4bots.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evacuees from Afghanistan wait to board a passenger plane bound for the U.S. at the U.S. military’s Ramstein air base in October 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/evacuees-from-afghanistan-wait-for-boarding-into-a-passenger-plane-picture-id1345660713?s=2048x2048">Lukas Schulze/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Desperate Afghans outside the U.S.</h2>
<p>Back in Afghanistan, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/taliban-afghanistan">Taliban’s takeover</a> has prompted a <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2022/2/15/Afghanistan-crises-hunger-inflation-migration-by-the-numbers">severe humanitarian</a> and <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/afghanistans-economy-collapse-and-chaos">economic crisis</a>. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/03/1113982">95% of Afghans</a> are not getting enough to eat, according to the United Nations. </p>
<p>Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked for the previous government, for the U.S. military, for U.S.-based nonprofit organizations and for democracy and human rights have <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/19/taliban-checkpoints-ring-kabul-airport-as-imf-suspends-funds-to-afghanistan">intensified</a> over the last several months.</p>
<p>There are <a href="https://www.wartimeallies.co/_files/ugd/5887eb_6334755bb6f64b009b629f3513a16204.pdf">at least 78,000</a> special immigrant visa applicants who remain stranded in Afghanistan, waiting for their visas to be processed. </p>
<p>Since July 2021, there have also been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html">43,000 Afghans</a> outside of the U.S. who have submitted humanitarian parole applications - <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/us-received-overwhelming-number-of-humanitarian-parole-requests-from-afghans-/6441411.html">which cost $575 each</a> - to enter the U.S. </p>
<p>To date, the U.S. has approved parole for only <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html">170</a> applicants. </p>
<p>The exact number of Afghans who worked in democracy, human rights, journalism, law and education, including former students of the U.S.-government funded <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-university-of-afghanistan-evacuated-but-thousands-still-want-to-leave/">American University of Kabul</a>, who are desperate to flee Taliban rule remains unknown. </p>
<p>For many of these Afghans - some of whom were <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/afghanistan-family-left-behind-resettlement-taliban-evacuation-20211030.html">separated</a> from family during the evacuation process - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/16/us/afghan-refugees-humanitarian-parole.html?smid=tw-share">hopes of resettlement</a> in the U.S. are fading.</p>
<p>In a recent conversation about the challenges facing Afghan evacuees in the U.S., Arash Azizzada, an advocate with the diaspora coalition <a href="https://www.weareafghans.org">Afghans for a Better Tomorrow</a>, explained to me that “There is a sense that the U.S. has abandoned Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>“Afghan-Americans and military veterans have sprung into action to respond to Afghans in crisis. But we can’t do this alone. We need more support to welcome Afghans with dignity,” Azizzada continued. </p>
<p>[<em>The Conversation’s Politics + Society editors pick need-to-know stories.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-need-to-know">Sign up for Politics Weekly</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The U.S. has promised to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. But there is concern that this could further complicate efforts to welcome and resettle Afghan evacuees.Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1753192022-02-15T18:50:03Z2022-02-15T18:50:03ZWith Australia reopening its borders to tourists, why are thousands of refugees still waiting for entry?<p>More than five months after Taliban forces overran Kabul, Immigration Minister Alex Hawke made a long-awaited <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/commitment-to-afghanistan-increased.aspx">announcement</a> in January to resettle Afghan refugees. Over the next four years, Australia will offer 10,000 places to Afghans in humanitarian need and another 5,000 visas to Afghans reuniting with family in Australia. </p>
<p>The news came as a Senate committee released a “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australia-opens-more-places-for-afghan-refugees-after-scathing-report-20220121-p59q5t.html">damning consensus report</a>” that called Australia’s approach to the evacuation of Afghans last year “<a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024789/toc_pdf/Australia%e2%80%99sengagementinAfghanistaninterimreport.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">short-sighted</a>”, “confused” and “dishonourable”.</p>
<p>The Senate committee urged the Australian government to “play a global leadership role” in resettling those displaced from Afghanistan. But just 15,000 visas fall far short of this task, particularly as these places will come out of Australia’s existing refugee and migration quotas, reducing space for others in need.</p>
<p>The Refugee Council of Australia called the announcement “<a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/australias_afghan_resettlement_response_a_bitter_disappointment/">hopelessly inadequate</a>”. It pointed out that a large proportion of the pledged 10,000 humanitarian places could be taken up by Afghans who were evacuated to Australia last year, leaving just <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/15000-Afghan-visas-220214-002.pdf">4,500 spots</a> for those overseas. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/15000-Afghan-visas-220214-002.pdf">150,000</a> Afghans have submitted <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/25615/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2022_02_14.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/estimate/25615/0000%22">applications</a> for refugee and humanitarian visas to Australia since Kabul fell.</p>
<p>Members of the Afghan community met with Hawke this week to urge him to recognise Australia’s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/15/stroke-of-a-pen-coalition-urged-to-accept-afghan-refugees-in-addition-to-existing-intake">moral obligation</a>” to the people of Afghanistan, calling for at least <a href="https://www.actionforafghanistan.com.au/media-releases/crnpxpmdh10f3rayuda6lms55h9rgb">20,000 more</a> humanitarian resettlement places.</p>
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<h2>With borders closed, thousands are stuck in limbo</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has severely diminished Australia’s modest contribution to global refugee resettlement needs. </p>
<p>In 2019-20, Australia was planning to welcome up to <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/refugee-program-smallest-in-45-years-while-migration-program-quota-filled/">18,750</a> people in humanitarian need, but this number was slashed to some <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-22-Budget-summary.pdf">13,750</a> annual places for 2020–25. </p>
<p>This is a tiny proportion of the more than <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/6/60d32ba44/un-refugee-agency-releases-2022-resettlement-needs.html">1.4 million</a> displaced people identified by the UN refugee agency as being in need of resettlement <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unhcr-projected-global-resettlement-needs-2021">each year</a>. </p>
<p>Crucially, Australia’s program was suspended in March 2020 due to the pandemic. This left around <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/lifting_of_travel_restrictions_welcome_news/">9,500 refugees</a> waiting in limbo for borders to re-open almost two years later. There were only extremely <a href="https://www.asyluminsight.com/garnier">limited</a> exceptions for refugees to be resettled in the interim. </p>
<p>In contrast, after a short suspension early in the pandemic, the United States, Canada and some European countries resumed their resettlement programs in 2020, welcoming more than <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/60b638e37/unhcr-global-trends-2020">30,000 refugees</a>. These countries then welcomed the bulk of the more than <a href="https://rsq.unhcr.org/en/#9gCe">39,000</a> refugees resettled in 2021. </p>
<p>In December 2021, Australia reopened its borders to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-reopens-borders-non-citizens-despite-omicron-worries-2021-12-14/">vaccinated skilled migrants and international students</a> and began to welcome refugees who had been waiting for resettlement. Home Affairs did not respond to a request by The Conversation, however, for the numbers of refugees resettled since December 15, or when the program would ramp up. </p>
<p>Two months on, it is clear the government has been slow to develop COVID-safe processes that would allow for a larger-scale refugee intake. </p>
<p>Many refugees awaiting resettlement are stuck in countries that have <a href="https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/621312/bp-peoples-vaccine-refugees-301121-en.pdf;jsessionid=DF68589F089FE159FF8DE095E5BA6B86?sequence=4">low COVID vaccination rates</a>. Some may also have received vaccines that have not been approved in Australia. </p>
<p>However, the government requires humanitarian entrants be fully vaccinated before arriving. The Refugee Council of Australia is <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Facilitating-RHP-arrivals-in-2022.pdf">calling</a> for Canberra to create space in quarantine facilities to facilitate the entry of refugees who do not meet the vaccination requirements.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-compare-australias-intake-of-afghan-refugees-with-the-post-vietnam-war-era-heres-why-166408">We can't compare Australia’s intake of Afghan refugees with the post-Vietnam War era. Here's why</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The US and Canada are doing better</h2>
<p>Even though Australia has announced 15,000 visas for Afghan nationals over the next four years, its contribution is still well behind that of Canada and the US.</p>
<p>The Canadian government made a pledge of 40,000 places for Afghan refugees after the fall of Kabul. Delays in processing have meant only about <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-canada-should-be-preparing-to-help-young-afghan-refugees-174273">6,500</a> have been granted entry so far. But these places are in addition to Canada’s existing annual resettlement program (unlike Australia). </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1493343198571216896"}"></div></p>
<p>Since mid-2021, the Biden administration has admitted more than <a href="https://www.state.gov/afghanistan-relocation-and-resettlement-update/">74,000</a> Afghan nationals, many of whom now need to apply to stay in the United States permanently. </p>
<p>And for 2022, President Joe Biden has pledged to provide permanent resettlement to up to 125,000 refugees from around the world, although progress has been <a href="https://refugeerights.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/USRAP-Recs-Report-FINAL.pdf">delayed</a> somewhat as authorities work to speed up the entry of Afghan refugees.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/american-religious-groups-have-a-history-of-resettling-refugees-including-afghans-166628">American religious groups have a history of resettling refugees – including Afghans</a>
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</em>
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<p>With the Taliban once again allowing chartered evacuation flights to Qatar, the US plans to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/02/04/afghan-refugees/">expedite</a> its system of interviews, security and health checks, and visa processing for those fleeing Afghanistan.</p>
<h2>No clear path for Afghans already here, either</h2>
<p>Not only has the Australian government been slow to process Afghans fleeing their homeland, it has also not made it easier for those already in Australia to stay permanently. </p>
<p>This includes around <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024789/toc_pdf/Australia%E2%80%99sengagementinAfghanistaninterimreport.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">5,000</a> Afghans living on <a href="https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net/">temporary visas</a> for the last decade. The visa conditions <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/refugees-from-afghanistan-rally-at-parliament-house-to-demand-permanent-residency/d01ff219-7b05-4258-b2ba-50116da1108d">prevent</a> individuals from bringing their family members to safety in Australia. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-studied-afghan-refugees-for-3-years-to-find-out-what-life-is-like-for-them-in-australia-166498">We studied Afghan refugees for 3 years to find out what life is like for them in Australia</a>
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<p>The Afghanistan-Australian Advocacy Network has also <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024789/toc_pdf/Australia%E2%80%99sengagementinAfghanistaninterimreport.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">called</a> for the government to review its eight-year ban on the resettlement of Afghan refugees from Indonesia. Several thousand people are stuck there without work, education or health care, waiting for a chance at resettlement elsewhere.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024789/toc_pdf/Australia%E2%80%99sengagementinAfghanistaninterimreport.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">around 25 Afghan refugees</a> remain in limbo on Nauru or in Papua New Guinea, while others are detained in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/refugee-escaped-taliban-detention-nauru-park-hotel-mental-toll/100689994">hotels</a> in Australia.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Senate committee’s call for Australia to be a global leader in refugee protection has been issued many times in recent years - by representatives of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jun/03/australias-reputation-as-humanitarian-world-leader-has-deteriorated">US</a>, the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/597217484.html">UN refugee agency</a> and civil society groups. </p>
<p>Such leadership can have real impact. Ahmad Shuja Jamal, a special advisor at the Refugee Council of Australia, <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2F25399%2F0004;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F25399%2F0000%22">told</a> the Senate committee Australia could use its influence to encourage neighbouring Pakistan to allow Afghan refugees to enter and wait for resettlement safely. This diplomacy can “literally save lives”, he said.</p>
<p>Instead, Australia’s response during the pandemic reveals a country quick to close its borders and drag its feet. This ignores the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/15000-Afghan-visas-220214-002.pdf">strong</a> community support for the admission of Afghan refugees and Australia’s “<a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024789/toc_pdf/Australia%E2%80%99sengagementinAfghanistaninterimreport.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">international standing</a>”
as a country with a well-established resettlement program. </p>
<p>Should Australia wish to stake a credible claim to leadership in helping refugees, a much greater contribution to the protection of those fleeing Afghanistan is a crucial place to start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175319/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Higgins receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Regina Jefferies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Refugees have waited in limbo for almost two years for Australia’s borders to reopen. So, why hasn’t Australia done more to ramp up its resettlement program, like Canada and the US?Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyRegina Jefferies, Affiliate, Andrew and Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1715492021-11-09T16:50:26Z2021-11-09T16:50:26ZBelarus: border crisis with Poland loses sight of the people trapped in the middle<p>Tensions at the border between Poland and Belarus <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/09/poland-warns-of-armed-attempts-on-its-border-as-germany-urges-eu-to-act">continue to rise</a>, with thousands of vulnerable migrants stranded in a standoff between the two countries and the geopolitical blocs to which they belong. About 4,000 men, women and children are caught along the border between the two countries, having been reportedly escorted to the border by Belarusian guards. </p>
<p>Many of these people have been trying to get through border defences into Poland where security forces are attempting to prevent them from crossing. According to some reports, they are “migrants”, to others, “refugees”. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59215769">The BBC</a>, for example, reports that Poland fears that Belarus “may try to provoke an incident with hundreds of migrants seeking to cross into the EU”. In the same article, the Belarusian border agency is reported saying “that ‘refugees’ were heading for the EU ‘where they want to apply for protection’.”</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map showing migrant routes from the Middle East to the Belarus border with Poland." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431120/original/file-20211109-15-pe5wx9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Where the border crisis is unfolding.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Two observations follow: the people stranded at the border are “migrants” for Poland and “refugees” for Belarus. By applying the quotation marks in reporting Belarus’s position, the BBC is implicitly aligning itself with the Polish and EU narrative.</p>
<p>This war of words is nothing new, as <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/unravelling-europes-migration-crisis">research</a> on the 2015-16 Mediterranean border crisis has demonstrated. As I <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2018.1388423">wrote at the time</a> the way we label, categorise and, in turn, differentiate between those on the move – for example those who crossed the Mediterranean on unseaworthy boats – has had enormous implications on the kind of legal and moral obligations receiving states and societies feel towards them.</p>
<p>But there are other important lessons we learned from the situation in the Mediterranean. For example, how countries are prepared to use displaced people as leverage on the geopolitical chessboard. Many observers have suggested that Belarus has been “<a href="https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/belarus-border-crisis-sanctions-latest-lithuanias-terror-warning/">orchestrating the crisis</a>” as retaliation for sanctions imposed on the government of Alexander Lukashenko by the US, UK and EU.</p>
<p>Some commentators have <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/belarusalert/putins-willing-provocateur-lukashenka-escalates-eu-border-crisis/">also suggested</a> that Belarus is acting on behalf of its powerful sponsor Russia, hinting that the agenda behind the current crisis may be more far-reaching.</p>
<h2>Weaponising refugees</h2>
<p>During the 2015-16 Mediterranean border crisis, Turkey and Russia were, at different points accused of weaponising refugees to destabilise the EU. <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-towards-a-new-policy-on-migration/file-eu-turkey-statement-action-plan">Turkey was accused</a> of playing politics with its border policy with Syrian refugees, until it eventually negotiated a financially and politically advantageous deal with the EU in December 2015, which led in just a few weeks to the flow of Syrians into Lesbos drying up. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35706238">Russia was accused</a> of using its airstrikes in Syrian border regions to push displaced people to cross the border and move west. </p>
<p>But, in truth, this was nothing new either. States have used displaced people as political leverage and human shields, to create chaos, instability, or retaliate against other countries for a long time. This, arguably, was one reason why the <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199652433.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199652433-e-021">1951 Refugee Convention and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees</a> were established after the second world war to protect people caught between battling states. </p>
<p>And, while understanding the geopolitics behind the current border crisis is useful and relevant, the protection of vulnerable people stranded at the EU border and their humanitarian needs should remain paramount, as well as their right to claim asylum.</p>
<p>It is important also to remember that while Belarus and Russia may be acting behind the scene to orchestrate the crisis, the situation at the border between Belarus and Poland is not the full story. People at the border began their journeys weeks – sometimes months – earlier. Many are coming from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, others from Iraq, a country on the verge of a new civil war, or from Kurdistan. We don’t know.</p>
<p>And we won’t, until people are no longer treated like parcels, pushed back and forth between posturing military forces. If they are victims of persecution and human rights abuses, they must be allowed to tell their stories and apply for asylum in a safe country.</p>
<p>We should also remember that since the Mediterranean border crisis the EU has invested a huge amount of resources in securing and – as far as has been possible – closing down Mediterranean sea routes. So the opening of new land routes should not come as a surprise. In truth, land routes had long been in use for unauthorised migration until the significant increase in the use of fences, barbed wire, walls and other border technologies made them harder and more hazardous for migrants.</p>
<h2>Wider dangers</h2>
<p>Another angle of this unfolding border standoff, is to understand how the fraught relationship between the EU and Poland will play out. Given its fraught relationship with the EU, Poland calling on the bloc for help, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/world/europe/europe-italy-migrants.html">as Italy did on multiple occasions during the Mediterranean crisis</a>, is not straightforward. Requesting Nato’s help may be easier for Poland at the moment, but this requires the militarisation of the narrative.</p>
<p>From the EU perspective, the crisis presents many dangers. It is well aware that how this crisis is handled may have repercussions on a potential <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/poland-belarus-migrant-border-crisis/">“Polexit”</a> if the border crisis pushes broadly pro-EU <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-polish-people-support-the-eu-its-their-government-that-continues-to-antagonise-brussels-170324">Polish public opinion</a> towards the government, which is increasingly hostile to the EU. This would be a major strategic victory for Russia.</p>
<p>There’s also a parallel with Brexit. Many will remember Nigel Farage posing in front of a billboard portraying a long queue of refugees, hinting at a possible invasion of Britain and accusing the EU of failing to “protect our borders”. Similar images of vulnerable migrants paraded by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/08/belarus-escorts-hundreds-of-migrants-towards-polish-border">Belarus military forces</a> pressing at the border have shocked the Polish public – and no doubt <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/08/poland-sends-additional-police-to-belarus-border-over-migrant-influx">anti-EU politicians in Poland</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/31/boris-johnson-picked-wrong-side-polands-battle-with-eu-over-rule-of-law">elsewhere</a> are more than ready to use them to achieve their goal.</p>
<p>In the middle of all this, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/05/the-plight-of-migrants-trapped-between-poland-and-belarus">thousands of people</a> are experiencing hunger, freezing temperatures, violence and fear, kicked back and forth like footballs, between two military forces.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171549/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nando Sigona has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) as Principal Investigator for Rebordering Britain and Britons after Brexit (MIGZEN) and as Co-Investigator for Unravelling the Mediterranean Migration Crisis (MEDMIG). </span></em></p>It’s vital not to lose sight of who the people trapped on the Belarus/Poland border are and how they came to be there.Nando Sigona, Professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement and Director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1685562021-09-24T16:37:45Z2021-09-24T16:37:45ZHaitian migrants at the border: An asylum law scholar explains how US skirts its legal and moral duties<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423157/original/file-20210924-26-fj91z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3839%2C2975&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. envoy resigned over "inhumane" treatment of Haitian migrants</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BorderHaitianRacism/698458add41b4d3997107a6663cd318f/photo?Query=Haitian%20AND%20migrants&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1071&currentItemNo=9">AP Photo/Felix Marquez</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S.’s top envoy to Haiti <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/23/us-special-envoy-to-haiti-resigns-over-migrant-expulsions.html">resigned abruptly on Sept. 22, 2021</a>, over the Biden administration’s “inhumane” treatment of Haitian migrants crossing the border via Mexico into Texas.</p>
<p>The resignation came amid debate over the U.S. decision to <a href="https://fox8.com/news/thousands-of-haitian-migrants-deported-from-us/">deport thousands of Haitians</a> entering the U.S. in search of asylum or a better life. Criticism over the policy mounted as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-immigration-united-states-health-coronavirus-pandemic-083b5ac02cc17a1ce06b6ac0048e99ec">images of U.S. Border Patrol</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-homeland-security-chief-heads-border-removal-migrant-camp-accelerates-2021-09-20/">agents on horseback and carrying whip-like cords</a> while encountering migrants gained widespread media attention and criticism from the White House. Border <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10014399/Texas-border-agents-DENY-whipping-migrants-accuse-Biden-administration-deflection.html">agents denied using whips</a> on migrants.</p>
<p>The Conversation asked Karen Musalo, an <a href="https://www.uchastings.edu/people/karen-musalo/">expert on refugee law and policy</a>, to unpack what went on at the U.S. border and whether the Biden administration is shirking its moral and legal obligations in deporting the Haitian migrants.</p>
<h2>What’s behind the recent surge of Haitian refugees at the Texas border?</h2>
<p>Haiti is beset by extraordinarily desperate conditions of political chaos and natural disasters, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. The assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 catapulted the country into <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/world/americas/haiti-henry-moise-assassination.html">political turmoil</a>. The post-assassination power struggle exacerbated <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/haiti">pre-existing political violence</a> and dysfunction. Violent gangs, often <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/haiti">with ties to the state</a>, are increasingly a threat.</p>
<p>In addition, Haiti suffered a devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake in August, just two days before being hit directly by tropical storm Grace, with a <a href="https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disaster/2021-haiti-earthquake-and-tropical-storm-grace/">combined toll</a> of <a href="https://www.nbc12.com/2021/08/22/haiti-raises-earthquake-death-toll-passes-2200/">over 2,200 dead</a>, 12,000 injured and hundreds of thousands displaced, many in remote regions that have yet to receive aid. The pandemic has exacerbated these woes. Less <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=OWID_WRL">than one-half of 1%</a> of the population has received even a first dose of a vaccine.</p>
<p>This has undoubtedly swelled the number of people trying to leave the nation. But many of the migrants arriving in the U.S. in recent weeks left Haiti before the recent turmoil. Haitian migrants have been <a href="https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/sites/default/files/A-Journey-of-Hope-Haitian-Womens-Migration-to%20-Tapachula.pdf">trapped in Mexico</a> for several years under various <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-central-americans-asylum-protections-20190715-story.html">Trump-era policies that limited</a>, and then eliminated, the possibility for them to request asylum in the United States. At the same time, others who left Haiti in years past for countries in South America have suffered from <a href="https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/in-depth/2021/06/11/400406/many-haitians-are-migrating-to-the-u-s-after-facing-racism-poverty-in-latin-america/">deep antipathy and racism</a> in their host countries, living in perilous conditions with only precarious legal status at best.</p>
<p>It appears many asylum seekers in Mexico, including Haitians, took heed of Biden’s promises during the presidential election campaign <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">to restore the asylum system</a>. That may have been a factor in their decision to present themselves at the Texas border seeking the <a href="https://ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/">protection guaranteed under law</a> for those fleeing persecution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A uniformed Mexican police officer talks with a Haitian migrant wearing a mask." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423180/original/file-20210924-25-jbvkju.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Haitian migrant pleads with a Mexican police officer blocking access to the Rio Grande river.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/MexicoUSBorderMigrants/243ec96d0e9749eda7e7ccd02b18ef56/photo?Query=Haitian%20AND%20migrants&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1071&currentItemNo=41">AP Photo/Felix Marquez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It should be remembered that the U.S. has long played a role in Haiti’s troubles. When Special Envoy for Haiti Daniel Foote resigned, coverage <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/daniel-foote-abruptly-quits-over-inhumane-deportation-of-haitian-migrants">focused on his protest</a> against what he described as the inhumanity of returning Haitians to a “collapsed state … unable to provide security or basic services.” Overlooked was his equally damning indictment of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/read-resignation-letter-from-u-s-special-envoy-for-haiti-daniel-foote/3136ae0e-96e5-448e-9d12-0e0cabfb3c0b/">U.S. as a puppet master</a> in Haiti’s political breakdown, for example by supporting the unelected prime minister and his political agenda.</p>
<h2>Doesn’t the US have a legal obligation to process asylum seekers?</h2>
<p>Both <a href="https://ijrcenter.org/refugee-law/">international</a> and <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1158">U.S. law</a> recognize the basic human right to seek asylum. The U.S. has ratified two treaties, the <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/1967-protocol">1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees</a> and the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cat.aspx">1984 Convention against Torture</a>, which prohibit the U.S. from returning people to countries where they risk persecution or torture. As a practical matter, this means that people must be able to request asylum at the U.S. border, or within U.S. territory, so that they have the opportunity to prove whether or not they fit within the category of persons legally protected from forced return.</p>
<p>This international legal framework has been codified in U.S. law, primarily through the <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr/policy-guidance/refugee-act">Refugee Act of 1980</a>, along with later statutes and regulations. It is universally acknowledged, including <a href="https://www.justice.gov/file/23326/download">by the Supreme Court</a>, that in passing these laws Congress intended to bring U.S. law into conformity with the United States’ international treaty obligations.</p>
<p>It is entirely legal to approach U.S. borders and request asylum. Statements by the administration that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57387350">people should not come</a>, that they are doing something illegal when they seek protection, and that there is a right way and wrong way to seek asylum are, in my opinion, not only callous and cruel but also false statements of the law.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/09/23/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-september-23-2021/">White House has asserted</a> that Haitians are not coming into the country through “legal methods,” which would indeed be impossible since all legal methods have been foreclosed to them.</p>
<p>As part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the asylum system, the White House in March 2020 <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/order-suspending-introduction-certain-persons.html">ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, over the objections of its own scientists, to use a 1944 public health law known as “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/02/1023187217/title-42-foes-go-back-to-court-to-try-to-end-covid-measure-blocking-asylum-seeke">Title 42</a>” to bar asylum seekers from entering the United States. This law had never been used before to dictate the movement of people across U.S. borders, which is instead the province of immigration laws. And despite the Biden’s campaign promises to restore the country’s asylum system, the administration continues to rely on Title 42 – <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/573016-why-is-the-biden-administration-turning-its-back-on-asylum-seekers?rl=1">despite most Americans now being vaccinated</a> – to keep asylum seekers out. </p>
<h2>Can you tell me a little more about Title 42?</h2>
<p>Even before COVID-19 struck, Trump administration aide <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/08/qa-us-title-42-policy-expel-migrants-border">Stephen Miller had inquired</a> about using the government’s public health authority to shut U.S. borders to people seeking asylum. He was told there was no legal authority to do so. The emergence of the pandemic provided a pretext for the unprecedented use of this little-known law dating back over 75 years. It formed part of the <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v7n8/v7n8p15.pdf">Public Health Service Act of 1944</a> to allow for the quarantine of anyone, including a U.S. citizen, arriving from a foreign country. It was never intended, nor until 2020 was used, to expel noncitizens from the United States. In fact, when Congress enacted the initial version of this law, references to immigration were deliberately omitted precisely to avoid the use of its provisions to discriminate against immigrants.</p>
<p>But the March 2020 order by the Trump administration <a href="https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/public-health-experts-urge-us-officials-withdraw-order-enabling-mass-expulsion-asylum-seekers">targets one group, and one group only</a>: noncitizens who lack documentation and arrive by land.</p>
<p>All other people arriving in the U.S., including American citizens, lawful permanent residents and tourists arriving by plane or ship, are exempt. As currently employed by the government, this public health law has displaced existing immigration law, which allows people to request asylum. And in doing so it has also eliminated the due process protections that are part of our immigration laws.</p>
<p>On Sept. 16, a federal court found the use of Title 42 to expel people seeking asylum to be a clear violation of U.S. law and <a href="https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/news/federal-court-blocks-title-42-expulsions-families-seeking-safety">granted a preliminary injunction</a> against the practice. The court stayed its own order for 14 days to allow the government an opportunity to appeal its decision.</p>
<h2>Is there a history of discriminatory US migration policy against Haitians?</h2>
<p>Haitians have suffered from <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/haitian-migrants-racism/2021/09/22/e400793e-1be1-11ec-bcb8-0cb135811007_story.html">discriminatory treatment in immigration</a> for decades, and it would, I believe, be naïve to attribute this adverse treatment to anything other than systemic racism, which pervades so many aspects of American society. Shortly after the U.S. enacted the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-94/pdf/STATUTE-94-Pg102.pdf">1980 Refugee Act</a>, it <a href="https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RS21349.html">began to stop</a> Haitians on the high seas and to return them to Haiti so that they could not apply for asylum in this country. This violation of international law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1993, and the practice continues to this day. Before the border was closed to them, Haitians who reached the U.S. and applied for asylum were denied at a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-race-and-ethnicity-mexico-haiti-asylum-seekers-a81ac1148118db38824d2d8f62139b87">higher rate than just about any other nationality</a> – notwithstanding the dire human rights conditions in their country.</p>
<p>After Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake in 2010, the government gave <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2010/01/21/2010-1169/designation-of-haiti-for-temporary-protected-status">Temporary Protected Status to Haitians</a> already in the United States, thus shielding them from removal. In 2017 the Trump administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/us/haitians-temporary-status.html">terminated the status for Haitians</a>, giving them until July 2019 to leave or to face deportation.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story was updated on Sept. 26 to add a denial from border agents.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Musalo receives funding from the National Science Foundation,</span></em></p>The Biden administration has used a public health provision to deport thousands of Haitian migrants entering the US via Mexico.Karen Musalo, Professor of International Law, University of California College of the Law, San FranciscoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626612021-06-15T06:16:00Z2021-06-15T06:16:00ZBiloela family to be released into community detention - what happens now?<p>Federal immigration minister Alex Hawke has <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s197ab.html">exercised his power</a> to allow the Murugappan family from Biloela to live in the Perth community. </p>
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<p>The Tamil asylum seeker family was previously held in an “alternative place of detention” (APOD) on Christmas Island. Residence determination, also known as “community detention”, was introduced in 2005 an alternative to held detention. As of <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-30-april-2021.pdf">April 2021</a>, there were 536 people in community detention, including 181 children. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biloela-family-moved-to-perth-in-holding-decision-by-immigration-minister-hawke-162755">Biloela family moved to Perth in holding decision by Immigration Minister Hawke</a>
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<p>Community detention allows people to transition out of detention into the community with appropriate supports. The family will have to live at a specified address and are legally still “detained”. They will not be under any physical supervision and will have the ability to live in the Perth community and engage with local support networks, and the children will be able to go to a local school. However, the requirement to live at a particular place means they are not free to leave Perth and return to Biloela in Queensland, unless the minister allows them to. </p>
<h2>Immediate health and mental health a priority</h2>
<p>Families in community detention are provided with support services from local community based organisations contracted by the Department of Home Affairs under the <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/status-resolution-service/status-resolution-support-services">Status Resolution Support Service </a>. The Murugappans will be given accommodation, health and welfare services as well as casework support. A small income is provided to allow them to pay for food, clothing and utilities, but the parents will not be allowed to work.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406374/original/file-20210615-21-j2c8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Biloela family’s plight was brought to the head by their youngest daughter Tharunicaa being hospitalised with a serious illness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/supplied</span></span>
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<p>Much has happened in recent days. Physical and mental health must be a priority. There is a strong body of evidence to suggest people’s health deteriorates significantly in immigration detention, with a clear association between time in detention and rates of mental illness. Anxiety, depression and traumatic stress experiences are commonly reported. Length of time in detention is associated with severity of distress. There is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13218719.2010.518551">evidence</a> that mental health improves shortly after release, although results have shown that the negative impact of detention can be ongoing.</p>
<p>After years in detention, the family’s situation has been brought to a head by their youngest daughter, Tharunicaa, being transferred to hospital in Perth with a serious blood infection. Medical experts have <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/doctors-plead-for-authorities-to-reunite-tharnicaa-with-her-family-20210613-p580mn.html">advocated for the family</a> to be reunited as the little girl recovers.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-the-morrison-government-has-escape-hatch-in-tamil-family-case-if-it-wants-to-use-it-162433">View from The Hill: the Morrison government has escape hatch in Tamil family case – if it wants to use it</a>
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<h2>What are the legal options now?</h2>
<p>The family’s future remains uncertain. Hawke said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I will consider at a future date whether to lift the statutory bar presently preventing members of the family from reapplying for temporary protection, for which they have previously been rejected.</p>
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<p>The parents came to Australia by boat without visas, so the law classifies them as unlawful maritime arrivals. Their children, although born in Australia, are also classified as unlawful maritime arrivals. This means they are not allowed to apply for any visa in Australia unless the immigration minister personally allows it under <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s46a.html">section 46A of the Migration Act</a>. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-a-young-child-is-evacuated-from-detention-could-this-see-the-biloela-tamil-family-go-free-162289">As a young child is evacuated from detention, could this see the Biloela Tamil family go free?</a>
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<p>The minister has previously allowed the father, Nades, to apply for a protection visa. The mother, Priya, has also applied and included the older daughter in her application. All had applied for protection visas, claiming they would face persecution if returned to Sri Lanka. Their claims were not successful and they were then detained in 2018. </p>
<p>Attempts to remove them from Australia were stopped by an injunction issued by the courts on the basis that the youngest daughter had not had the opportunity to apply for a protection visa.</p>
<p>The minister may allow them to apply for any visa under section 46A, or alternatively allow the family’s claims for protection to be reassessed under section 48B. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s48b.html">Section 48A of the Migration Act</a> allows the minister to personally allow a person to apply again for a protection visa where they have previously been refused if he considers it in the “public interest” to do so. The minister’s guidelines state he can exercise this power if he considers there are “exceptional circumstances”, including new information, or where there is a significant change in the circumstances of the case. </p>
<p>In the case of the Biloela family, this could include a change to the circumstances of their case that has arisen since they last applied, which are known as <em>sur place</em> claims. In May 2021, an <a href="https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/IAC/2021/130.html">asylum tribunal in the United Kingdom</a> issued new country guidance addressing the risk of persecution for Sri Lankan nationals. It sets out the risk of persecution as a result of <em>sur place</em> activities that are (or perceived by the government to be) in opposition to the government of Sri Lanka. </p>
<p>This is important in the case of the Biloela family, as they are clearly identifiable due to the large amount of national and international media coverage, which has included references to their previous asylum claims. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-give-visas-to-the-biloela-tamil-family-and-other-asylum-seekers-stuck-in-the-system-155354">It's time to give visas to the Biloela Tamil family and other asylum seekers stuck in the system</a>
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<h2>The immediate need for a trauma-informed response</h2>
<p>Community detention is an appropriate compassionate response and a step in the right direction. However, the failure to exercise a discretion either granting the Murugappans a visa or allowing them to apply again leaves the family in limbo. </p>
<p>Prolonged uncertainty and ongoing trauma can have devastating impacts. There is a well documented body of evidence that when people are traumatised and at the same time feel trapped by their circumstances, it becomes increasingly difficult to make decisions, sustain healthy, satisfying relationships or manage life’s uncertainties. Efforts must be made to reduce that uncertainty. A <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/inm.12325">trauma-informed approach is essential</a> to reduce ongoing distress and prevent retraumatisation. </p>
<p>Specialist support for both parents and children are essential. How children experience traumatic events, how they express their distress, and what actually helps, <a href="https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources//age_related_reactions_to_traumatic_events.pdf">depends in large part on the children’s</a> age and stage of development. It also depends on the circumstances of the entire family. The goal must be to restore certainty to these children’s lives and the lives of their parents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Anne Kenny has previous received funding from the Australian Research Council and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Procter has previously received grant funding and sitting fees from the Department of Home Affairs. This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p>While this is a positive step, it still does not allow the Murugappan family to return to their home of Biloela in Queensland, and their situation still has some way to play out in the courts.Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch UniversityNicholas Procter, Professor and Chair: Mental Health Nursing, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1622612021-06-08T00:48:39Z2021-06-08T00:48:39ZFederal Court awards $350,000 to unlawfully detained asylum seeker, opening door to further claims<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/404960/original/file-20210608-28202-1nwq72z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5414%2C3620&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a <a href="https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2021/2021fca0600">significant judgment</a>, Federal Court judge Geoffrey Flick on Monday ordered the Australian government to pay A$350,000 in damages to a Iraqi asylum seeker who was found to have been unlawfully held in immigration detention for over two years.</p>
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<p>It’s an important case because it represents a rare litigation win for an asylum seeker. While the asylum seeker doesn’t automatically get the right to stay in Australia, he has won damages — and that is unusual.</p>
<p>This case (and another known as “the AJL20 case”, which we’ll get to later) open the door to the possibility others in the same position might also be able to claim damages. </p>
<p>It leaves open the prospect of compensation claims for asylum seekers who have been in detention, where no effort has been made to remove them. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australias-india-travel-ban-legal-a-citizenship-law-expert-explains-160178">Is Australia's India travel ban legal? A citizenship law expert explains</a>
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<h2>The facts of the case</h2>
<p>The asylum seeker — a 26-year-old man referred to only by the pseudonym “MZZHL” — arrived in Australia by boat in 2012. He applied for a protection visa, and was rejected. He appealed, twice, and was unsuccessful. Despite this, it’s possible that MZZHL may be a genuine refugee. As Justice Flick noted in his judgment, information that emerged much later suggests that the decision to reject his protection claim may have relied on incorrect assumptions. </p>
<p>While his appeals were underway, and for some time after, MZZHL was allowed, by ministerial discretion, to live in the Australian community on a bridging visa. Eventually this bridging visa expired. </p>
<p>Under Australia’s Migration Act, a non-citizen who does not hold a valid visa is an
“<a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s14.html">unlawful non-citizen</a>”, and must be <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s189.html">detained</a> in immigration detention.</p>
<p>In circumstances like MZZHL’s, where options to apply for a visa have been exhausted, this detention must be for the <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s196.html">purpose of removal from Australia</a>, and the government must seek to remove the non-citizen from Australia “<a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s198.html">as soon as reasonably practicable</a>”.</p>
<p>MZZHL was taken into immigration detention in August 2018, and the Department of Home Affairs made initial efforts to arrange his removal from Australia. In October 2018, he made a request in writing to be removed to Iraq, which the department made attempts to fulfil. </p>
<p>Up to this point, Justice Flick found that MZZHL’s detention was lawful, because it was for the purposes of removal from Australia, and the government was making active efforts to remove him as soon as practicable.</p>
<h2>When did the detention become unlawful?</h2>
<p>In March 2019, MZZHL withdrew his request to be removed to Iraq. He feared if he returned his life would be in danger, because authorities had come searching for him and had burned his family home to the ground. </p>
<p>At this point, the government ceased any efforts to remove him from Australia. It did not explore the possibility of finding a country other than Iraq that might have been willing to accept him. </p>
<p>The government also did not explore the prospect of sending MZZHL to Iraq against his will. </p>
<p>This might seem like a good thing, given that a forced return to Iraq may have exposed MZZHL to harm, contravening Australia’s <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">non-refoulement obligations</a> under international law. </p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s197c.html">section 197C</a> of the Migration Act says that, for the purposes of removing a non-citizen from Australia, Australia’s non-refoulement obligations are “irrelevant”. Section 197C has been <a href="https://jade.io/j/?a=outline&id=812739">amended in the last fortnight</a>, but, at the time MZZHL’s case was heard, it required the government to actively seek to remove him to the first available place — even if this was somewhere where he might face grave harm.</p>
<p>The Commonwealth accepted that, by failing to take active steps to pursue MZZHL’s removal, it had breached its obligation to remove him from Australia as soon as practicable. Nonetheless, it argued MZZHL’s detention was lawful because it was for the legitimate purpose of removal. </p>
<p>Justice Flick disagreed. He held that </p>
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<p>the pursuit of any “purpose”, let alone a “purpose of removing [MZZHL] from Australia” had been abandoned. </p>
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<p>On this basis, he found MZZHL had been unlawfully detained. </p>
<h2>Alternatives to removal</h2>
<p>As Justice Flick noted, there was another option available to the government.</p>
<p>The immigration minister has a power, under <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s195a.html">section 195A</a> of the Migration Act, to grant a visa to a person in detention, where this is in the public interest. The minister has no <em>duty</em> to consider exercising this power — it is simply an option available to them.</p>
<p>On May 4, the first day that MZZHL’s case was listed for hearing, the minister exercised the power under section 195A to grant him a bridging visa. This is not a long term right to remain in Australia, merely an option to live in the community instead of detention until departure becomes possible. </p>
<p>Justice Flick also noted the Commonwealth could have considered whether MZZHL had additional protection claims that had not been determined, in light of the evidence of attacks on his family home, and other information suggesting that, contrary to earlier assessments, he may have been an Iraqi citizen.</p>
<p>For over two years prior to the hearing, none of these options were pursued, and the government also made no efforts to remove MZZHL from Australia. It simply did nothing.</p>
<h2>Damages</h2>
<p>The Commonwealth argued that even if MZZHL’s detention was unlawful, the only available remedy was a court order demanding that it fulfil its obligation to pursue MZZHL’s removal. </p>
<p>Justice Flick disagreed. He concluded MZZHL had been unlawfully deprived of his liberty, and should have been released from detention “soon after March 2019”. </p>
<p>He awarded MZZHL $350,000 in damages, calculated in a similar manner to that used in false imprisonment cases. </p>
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<h2>What next? The future is uncertain for MZZHL</h2>
<p>Last year, in another Federal Court case, <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2020/1305.html">AJL20 v Commonwealth</a>, Justice Bromberg made similar findings to Justice Flick. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth <a href="https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_c16-2020">appealed to the High Court</a>, which is yet to deliver a judgment. It remains to be seen whether the outcome of the AJL20 appeal will affect the MZZHL finding. </p>
<p>If the Commonwealth loses, both Federal Court decisions will stand. </p>
<p>But even if the Commonwealth succeeds in overturning the Federal Court decision in AJL20, the decision in MZZHL may stand, because Justice Flick used slightly different reasoning to Justice Bromberg.</p>
<p>Whatever the outcome in the AJL20 appeal, the future is uncertain for MZZHL. He is currently on a bridging visa, but still has an obligation to leave Australia. </p>
<p>The minister has the option to grant him <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/refugee-and-humanitarian-program/onshore-protection/protection-visa-cancelled">another opportunity to apply for a protection visa</a>. </p>
<p>If this isn’t granted, and his bridging visa expires, he will once again face detention and removal, albeit under a statutory regime that has seen some <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/news/joint-statement-refugee-law-organisations-response-migration-amendment-clarifying-international">recent changes</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-billions-more-allocated-to-immigration-detention-its-another-bleak-year-for-refugees-160783">With billions more allocated to immigration detention, it's another bleak year for refugees</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162261/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article is part of a series on asylum seeker policy supported by a grant from the Broadley Trust.</span></em></p>This important case because represents a rare litigation win for an asylum seeker. He doesn’t automatically get the right to stay in Australia, but he’s won damages — and that’s unusual.Sangeetha Pillai, Senior Research Associate, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law School, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1607832021-05-13T06:12:55Z2021-05-13T06:12:55ZWith billions more allocated to immigration detention, it’s another bleak year for refugees<p>Refugees and asylum seekers will take little comfort from the 2021–22 budget. Resettlement places remain capped, while spending on offshore processing, immigration detention and deterrence measures remains high. </p>
<p>For those still held offshore in Papua New Guinea or Nauru, in detention here in Australia, or on <a href="https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net/introduction">temporary</a> visas in our community, the budget compounds the human cost of Australia’s hardline asylum policy.</p>
<h2>Cap remains the same on refugee placements</h2>
<p>Before COVID-19, Australia’s humanitarian program provided for the resettlement of up to 18,750 refugees and others in need each year. The program <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/resettlement-briefing-on-covid-19/">fell short</a> of this number early last year when international travel was restricted due to the COVID-19 outbreak. </p>
<p>It was then cut by 5,000 places for 2020, and these places <a href="https://amp.sbs.com.au/eds/news/live-blog/federal-budget-2021-11-may-2021/c0c756d3-b98f-4f9d-b7fe-910b24d2d170">have not been restored</a> under the latest budget. </p>
<p>This is despite <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20210129-International-Australia-Submission_Pre-Budget-Priorities.pdf">calls</a> from advocacy groups for Australia to do more in response to global displacement — particularly with the <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2021/01/25/afghanistan-refugee-resettlement-coronavirus-conflict-australia-canada">pressures</a> COVID has placed on countries hosting large numbers of forced migrants — and to restore the humanitarian program to its pre-pandemic level.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-our-borders-shut-this-is-the-ideal-time-to-overhaul-our-asylum-seeker-policies-146016">With our borders shut, this is the ideal time to overhaul our asylum seeker policies</a>
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<h2>Little help for those in Nauru or PNG</h2>
<p>Offshore processing is once again a big budget item for Home Affairs, set at close to <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/budgets/2021-22-home-affairs-pbs.pdf">A$812 million</a> for 2021-22. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/federal-budget-what-it-means-for-refugees-and-people-seeking-humanitarian-protection/">109 people currently being held on Nauru and 130 in Papua New Guinea</a>, this equates to almost <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/12/australia-will-spend-almost-34m-for-each-person-in-offshore-detention-budget-shows">$3.4 million</a> per person for 2021. </p>
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<p>For the next three years (2022–24), spending on offshore processing is projected at just over $300 million annually, although experience shows annual costs have exceeded those provided in the forward estimates since at least <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/news/2015-2016-budget">2015</a>.</p>
<p>This excessive spending raises serious questions about the government’s planning for these refugees stuck in limbo. </p>
<p>Keeping people in Nauru and PNG cannot be the only option, and the UN refugee agency has long made <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/briefing/2017/12/5a3cce224/australia-must-secure-solutions-refugees-abandoned-manus-island.html">clear</a> Australia must “live up to its responsibilities” to find long-term and humane solutions for those held offshore. </p>
<p>The budget includes continued support for Nauru and PNG to provide “durable migration options” in the way of resettlement, voluntarily return to individuals’ home countries or removal for those found not to be refugees. </p>
<p>But in addition to Australia’s <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/offshore-processing-australia%E2%80%99s-responsibility-asylum-seekers-and-refugees-nauru-and">obligations</a> on this front, experts have raised real <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/RCOA-Seven-Years-On.pdf">concerns</a> that some asylum seekers have been pressured to agree to return home, despite the risks this may pose to their safety. </p>
<p>Among those still held offshore, only a <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/567ff01c-d590-41e8-ab09-bd5d4e996f13/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2021_03_22_8611.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/estimate/567ff01c-d590-41e8-ab09-bd5d4e996f13/0001%22">small</a> number have received provisional approval as of March for resettlement in the United States. The UN refugee agency, meanwhile, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/17/canada-europe-resettling-australia-refugees">working</a> to find resettlement places in Canada and Europe, without help from Australia. </p>
<h2>Vast sums for detention</h2>
<p>The budget also sees big spending on immigration detention, with more than <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/budgets/2021-22-home-affairs-pbs.pdf">$1.2 billion</a> allocated to Home Affairs for onshore detention and compliance in 2021-22. This includes packages to assist individuals to voluntarily return to their countries of origin. </p>
<p>An extra <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/securing-our-future.aspx">$464.7 million</a> has also been allocated to increase capacity in detention centres on the Australian mainland and on Christmas Island, due to the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/567ff01c-d590-41e8-ab09-bd5d4e996f13/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2021_03_22_8611.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/estimate/567ff01c-d590-41e8-ab09-bd5d4e996f13/0001%22">challenges</a> of deporting people during COVID-19 travel restrictions. </p>
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<p>The Christmas Island facility was “reactivated” under last year’s budget to the tune of <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/news/how-australia%E2%80%99s-federal-budget-2020-21-impacts-refugees-and-asylum-seekers">$55.6m</a>, and currently holds more than <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/estimate/567ff01c-d590-41e8-ab09-bd5d4e996f13/toc_pdf/Legal%20and%20Constitutional%20Affairs%20Legislation%20Committee_2021_03_22_8611.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22committees/estimate/567ff01c-d590-41e8-ab09-bd5d4e996f13/0001%22">200</a> people. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-give-visas-to-the-biloela-tamil-family-and-other-asylum-seekers-stuck-in-the-system-155354">Murugappan</a> family from Biloela, Queensland, lives in a <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/detention-australia-statistics/3/">separate</a> section of the facility. They have been detained there since August 2019 — and for a long time they were the only occupants — at a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/07/keeping-biloela-family-locked-up-on-christmas-island-cost-australia-14m-last-year#:%7E:text=The%20department%20said%20in%20October,Island%20has%20cost%20%241.4m.&text=The%20legal%20costs%20incurred%20by,the%20past%20year%20to%20%24402%2C100.">substantial cost</a>.</p>
<p>Farther afield, Home Affairs will spend $104 million to continue working with regional governments and international organisations (such as the International Organisation for Migration) as part of ongoing efforts to prevent human trafficking and people smuggling. </p>
<p>And an additional <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/budgets/2021-22-home-affairs-pbs.pdf">$38.1 million</a> is going to Indonesia to continue funding basic services for asylum seekers and information campaigns designed to deter people from seeking asylum in Australia. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/for-muslim-refugees-in-immigration-detention-another-sombre-isolated-eid-holiday-159994">For Muslim refugees in immigration detention, another sombre, isolated Eid holiday</a>
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<h2>Mixed support for asylum seekers in the community</h2>
<p>There are thousands of asylum seekers in Australia still <a href="https://temporary.kaldorcentre.net/introduction">waiting</a> for their claims for protection to be assessed. </p>
<p>The Department of Home Affairs has recently launched a “<a href="https://www.racs.org.au/news-old/human-rights-legal-community-appeals-to-government-against-a-new-blitz-of-fast-track-interviews-as-processing-for-boat-arrivals-comes-to-a-close">blitz</a>” in calling people in for their first interviews, which <a href="https://www.racs.org.au/news-old/human-rights-legal-community-appeals-to-government-against-a-new-blitz-of-fast-track-interviews-as-processing-for-boat-arrivals-comes-to-a-close">refugee lawyers</a> say has left some applicants with just two weeks to prepare. </p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, the budget continues a downward <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/federal-budget-what-it-means-for-refugees-and-people-seeking-humanitarian-protection/">trend</a> in the amount of funding for support services for asylum seekers at just <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2021/budget-2021-22_portfolio_budget_statements_11052021_1000.pdf">$33 million</a> for 2021–22, down from $39 million two years ago. </p>
<p>Advocates <a href="https://asrc.org.au/2021/05/12/budget-21-continues-the-governments-detention-cost-blow-out-and-exclusion-of-people-seeking-asylum-refugees-and-migrants-in-time-of-crisis/">say</a> this funding will only cover “a tiny percentage” of the needs of asylum seekers in the community while their protection claims are being assessed. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, however, the budget did hit some positive notes for refugees in the measures aimed at improving women’s safety. </p>
<p>Alongside economic and social support initiatives for refugee and migrant women, there is a <a href="https://budget.gov.au/2021-22/content/womens-statement/download/womens_budget_statement_2021-22.pdf">pilot program</a> to enable women on temporary visas who are experiencing family violence to explore visa options not reliant on their partner.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scores-of-medevac-refugees-have-been-released-from-detention-their-freedom-though-remains-tenuous-156952">Scores of medevac refugees have been released from detention. Their freedom, though, remains tenuous</a>
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<h2>A missed opportunity</h2>
<p>With Australia’s borders predicted to remain closed until mid-2022, the needs of refugees and asylum seekers may not be grabbing headlines in this budget cycle. </p>
<p>But as the Refugee Council of Australia has recently <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/priorities-covid-19/">documented</a>, there are <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/new-data-reveals-children-of-people-seeking-asylum-left-hungry-as-impact-of-covid-19-crisis-deepens/">many ways</a> the government can help displaced people during the pandemic.</p>
<p>This includes bringing people from Nauru and PNG to Australia and ensuring procedural fairness in the assessment of their protection claims. </p>
<p>With <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/cost-australias-asylum-policy">studies</a> repeatedly showing the settlement of displaced people can help to address demographic and labour shortages and substantially boost Australia’s economy, this budget’s emphasis on detention, deterrence and removal is disappointing. </p>
<p>It’s a missed opportunity for refugees and for the nation’s post-pandemic future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Higgins receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>This excessive spending raises serious raise questions about the government’s long-term planning for refugees stuck in limbo.Claire Higgins, Senior Research Fellow, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1569522021-03-21T18:51:02Z2021-03-21T18:51:02ZScores of medevac refugees have been released from detention. Their freedom, though, remains tenuous<p>Over 100 refugees have been abruptly and quietly released from immigration detention in <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/like-flying-dozens-more-refugees-released-from-hotel-detention-in-melbourne-20210121-p56vr3.html">Melbourne</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/01/calls-for-refugees-released-from-brisbane-hotel-detention-to-be-given-emergency-housing">Brisbane</a> and <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/iranian-refugee-family-who-has-spent-the-last-eight-years-in-detention-has-been-released-from-darwin-hotel-room/23480477-184d-4478-a978-04dd60691803">Darwin</a> hotels since early 2021. These releases are welcome and long overdue, following a sustained public campaign for their freedom. </p>
<p>But their newly gained freedom remains conditional and their futures uncertain. What’s more, many other refugees who were also transferred to Australia from offshore detention for medical treatment have <a href="https://rac-vic.org/media-releases/">yet to be released</a>. </p>
<p>This raises serious concerns for the ongoing welfare of the refugees — those now in the community and those still in detention. </p>
<p>It also raises questions about the arbitrary, non-transparent and even cruel nature of ministerial decision-making when it comes to who is released and who isn’t.</p>
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<h2>Why release these refugees now?</h2>
<p>To date, the Department of Home Affairs has not provided any official rationale for the timing of these releases. Nor have they outlined any criteria or policy explaining the decisions to grant some refugees temporary visas to live in the Australian community and not others. </p>
<p>By our estimation, about 80 people transferred under the now-repealed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/dec/04/medevac-repeal-bill-passes-after-jacqui-lambie-makes-secret-deal-with-coalition">medevac legislation</a> remain in detention. But it is hard to get precise figures due to lags and gaps in government <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-31-january-2021.pdf">statistics</a> and its longstanding <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2016.1196903">lack of transparency</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hotels-are-no-luxury-place-to-detain-people-seeking-asylum-in-australia-134544">Hotels are no 'luxury' place to detain people seeking asylum in Australia</a>
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<p>In January, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton explained the initial releases as a cost-saving measure, stating it was “<a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/ray-hadley-21012021.aspx">cheaper</a>” for people to live in the community than in a hotel. </p>
<p>While this has long been true, it seems a hollow line from a government that continues to maintain a policy of offshore detention in Nauru and Papua New Guinea to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/11/budget-blowouts-offshore-processing-costs-12bn-for-fewer-than-300-people">cost</a> of over $1.2 billion per year (that’s roughly $4 million per person this financial year).</p>
<p>Sadly, refugees are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/15/playing-games-with-us-the-medevac-men-languishing-in-hotel-detention-for-almost-two-years">all too used</a> to the inconsistent and arbitrary use of power under Australia’s migration laws. </p>
<p>Under federal law, the minister <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s195a.html">can</a> issue a visa to any non-citizen in immigration detention at any time. This even applies to people who have been transferred from offshore detention for medical reasons and are <a href="http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ma1958118/s46b.html">prohibited</a> from applying for any visa while in Australia.</p>
<p>Yet, even at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Dutton largely refused to issue temporary visas to people from immigration detention. This was despite the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/24/we-are-sitting-ducks-for-covid-19-asylum-seekers-write-to-pm-after-detainee-tested-in-immigration-detention">impossibility</a> of social distancing and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1741659020946178">heightened risk</a> of infection for people detained in prisons, immigration detention and hotels.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-covid-vaccine-passport-may-further-disadvantage-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-155287">A COVID 'vaccine passport' may further disadvantage refugees and asylum seekers</a>
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<p>In fact, Dutton fought tooth and nail to stop the courts from ordering the release of refugees from detention. This included <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/melbourne-immigration-detainee-to-be-forcibly-flown-to-wa-after-losing-coronavirus-court-battle">forcibly moving</a> an elderly man to a Western Australian detention centre rather than release him to live with his family in Melbourne. </p>
<p>It is highly likely the decision to release people from hotel detention now is in response to political pressure and social mobilisation.</p>
<p>Refugees in hotel detention have <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/mantra-refugees-transferred-to-former-covid-19-quarantine-hotel-20201217-p56nmb.html">persistently</a> drawn attention to their incarceration through social media, community protests and with the support of high-profile advocates like former footballer <a href="https://theathletic.com/2397908/2021/03/07/craig-foster-the-former-footballer-saving-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-lives/">Craig Foster</a>. Some have filed lawsuits to challenge the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-03/medevac-cases-falling-into-black-hole-federal-court-judge/13211422">legality</a> of their detention. </p>
<p>This mobilisation has seemed to work in their favour, at least in the short term. </p>
<h2>Freedom yet abandonment</h2>
<p>Release from hotel detention has brought enormous <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-20/victoria-medevac-detainees-released-from-melbourne-park-hotel/13074722">relief</a> and joy for the refugees. It comes after more than eight years of <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3392128">physical confinement and legal limbo</a> in offshore detention, and over one year in detention in Australia without visitors or <a href="https://arena.org.au/not-the-hilton-vernacular-violence-in-covid-19-quarantine-and-detention-hotels/">even access to fresh air</a>. </p>
<p>But their new reality is now complex. Their freedom is neither guaranteed, nor accompanied by the necessary financial and social support. They are living precariously. </p>
<p>The government has reportedly given each person <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/01/calls-for-refugees-released-from-brisbane-hotel-detention-to-be-given-emergency-housing">up to six weeks</a> of support, including motel accommodation and income support payments, as well as limited casework support. </p>
<p>When this support runs out, these men will effectively be abandoned to fend for themselves. They must either pay for government-provided accommodation or find their own private accommodation. They must also pay for any non-subsidised medical costs out of their own pockets, a difficult proposition for some people with complex medical needs. </p>
<p>This pattern is <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3601191">not new</a>. Increasingly, some countries are actively withdrawing support for asylum seekers and undocumented migrants to make conditions so miserable they surrender their right to seek asylum. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-the-biden-administration-pressure-australia-to-adopt-more-humane-refugee-policies-153718">Could the Biden administration pressure Australia to adopt more humane refugee policies?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As Kurdish writer Behrouz Boochani, who is now living in New Zealand, has <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2018/08/11/manus-prison-theory/15339096006690#hrd">commented</a>, this <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2019/07/active-neglect">neglect</a> often leads refugees to a “point of hopelessness”, pushing them to “finally decide to return to their country of origin”.</p>
<p>Since their release this year, the medevac refugees have largely relied on support from private individuals (including crowdfunding) and NGOs. The government’s policy is effectively confining them to precarity, dependency and impoverishment in our community. </p>
<p>In response to detailed questions about the refugee release and support systems in place to assist them, a spokesperson for Home Affairs said, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Australian Government remains committed to regional processing and third country resettlement for persons under these arrangements. Government policy is steadfast – persons under regional processing arrangements will not settle permanently in Australia.</p>
<p>Transitory persons were brought to Australia temporarily to receive medical treatment. Their temporary stay in Australia is not a pathway to settlement.</p>
<p>Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS) providers have been engaged to provide short-term support including case worker support to link individuals to essential services and accommodation. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>For now, the released refugees have been granted what are known as “<a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/bridging-visa-e-050-051">final departure Bridging Visa Es</a>”. These are usually granted for a six-month period and there is no guarantee they will be renewed. </p>
<p>This visa usually gives people work rights. But finding a job in the current economic climate, coupled with their lack of employment histories after years of detention, make this a herculean ask.</p>
<p>The temporary visa also formally requires people to make arrangements to depart Australia. Home Affairs has said the released refugees have three options: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>resettlement in the US (a virtually impossible option limited to a select few) </p></li>
<li><p>return to their country of origin </p></li>
<li><p>return to Nauru or PNG. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Yet, none of these are feasible long-term solutions. Most of the people have been officially recognised as refugees, so they cannot safely return to their home states. Countries <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/15/iran-refuses-to-take-back-asylum-seekers-who-have-been-forcibly-returned">like Iran</a> also refuse to accept involuntary returns. </p>
<p>Lacking any other options, two refugees <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-18/tamil-medevac-refugees-return-to-nauru-from-darwin-detention/13248378">chose to return</a> to Nauru last week. But those who take this path remain vulnerable due to a lack of adequate medical care and, in the case of PNG, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-catastrophe-looms-with-pngs-covid-crisis-australia-needs-to-respond-urgently-156953">spiralling COVID crisis</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1372405398284603394"}"></div></p>
<p>Given this, the temporary nature of these visas means the threat of future re-detention or deportation is an ongoing risk. This sense of uncertainty is heightened by the mandate that released refugees sign a pernicious <a href="https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/1690">code of behaviour</a>.</p>
<p>And to date, many medevac refugees remain in detention in Australia, causing them even more distress. In the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-02/four-refugees-detained-in-darwin-hotel-released/13206642">words</a> of Refugee Voices spokesman Ahmad Hakim: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They are just seeking answers why have they been left there and others are out. They feel it is a type of torture by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, to break them down more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The pandemic offered a <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-our-borders-shut-this-is-the-ideal-time-to-overhaul-our-asylum-seeker-policies-146016">chance</a> to reset Australia’s cruelty towards refugees and other temporary migrants, including through a large-scale <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-covid-vaccine-passport-may-further-disadvantage-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-155287">immigration amnesty</a>. </p>
<p>Releasing refugees from detention on temporary visas is a missed opportunity to give them a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/they-are-human-beings-released-medevac-detainees-call-for-permanent-resettlement-option-for-refugees">permanent</a> home and stable future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sara Dehm is a national co-convenor of Academics for Refugees.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Loughnan is a research partner with the Comparative Network on the Externalisation of Refugee Policies, and is a co-convenor of the University of Melbourne Branch of Academics for Refugees</span></em></p>Those who have been released have little financial or social support, confining them to lives of precarity, dependency and impoverishment in our community.Sara Dehm, Lecturer, University of Technology SydneyClaire Loughnan, Lecturer, School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1465182020-11-12T11:54:04Z2020-11-12T11:54:04ZHungry, homeless and pregnant: the migrant women facing destitution in the UK<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368303/original/file-20201109-23-8jmcwj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C3817%2C2138&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/crying-muslim-female-holding-painful-hand-1375180847">Motortion Films/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Try to imagine for a moment, if you can, how it must feel to be so scared for your life that you are forced to flee your home and seek asylum in another country. </p>
<p>Now imagine you are pregnant while doing this. </p>
<p>You might hope that when you reach the country of asylum you would be out of harm’s way. But <a href="https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjom.2020.28.11.778">our new research</a>
has found this may not always be the case. Our findings show how pregnant women can fall through the gaps in terms of welfare support and housing. And how, in some cases, delays in processing welfare benefits and finding accommodation can leave vulnerable women without food or anywhere to live for the duration of their pregnancy. </p>
<h2>Going hungry</h2>
<p>We worked with researchers (Rosanna Ellul and Rose McCarthy) at the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/">Refugee Council</a>, a UK based organisation that works with refugees and asylum seekers, to carry out in-depth interviews – with the help of an interpreter. We spoke with six migrant women in the UK who had experienced destitution in their pregnancy. We found they were hungry, homeless and their health had suffered as a result. And although this was a small, local study, it shows the implications of gaps in the support system for pregnant migrant women.</p>
<p>All the women we talked to told us about not eating for long periods of time. Hunger was made worse when women could smell food but had no money to buy it. One woman described how she was staying in a friend’s house where they cooked her meals, but she struggled to eat the food:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I vomit a lot, I can’t like…keep [food] down…and because I don’t want to disturb people…whatever they cook I try [to eat]. I tried to push myself"</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Pregnant and homeless</h2>
<p>We found that women “sofa surfed”, living in cramped conditions, sleeping on a settee or on the floor. In the daytime, they felt obliged to leave the house so as not to become a burden to the residents. One woman, who was thrown out of her home by her partner due to being pregnant, slept in the internal stairwell at the entrance to the flats she had lived in and walked around the streets in the daytime. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Desperate Muslim female crying in cafe, covering face with hands" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368305/original/file-20201109-20-1illmc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We found welfare support was delayed for all the women we spoke with, leading to destitution for the duration of their pregnancies and longer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/desperate-muslim-female-crying-cafe-covering-1349138003">Motortion Films/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some women were provided temporary housing, but this was often dirty and unsafe. One woman described the racist abuse she received from her neighbour in a hostel where she was housed temporarily:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The lady, she was staying in the opposite room, if I come out the room she start calling me names and, that’s the only entrance. I was so scared…she did it three times, she was screaming, she stands on the stairs blocking me.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These temporary living arrangements also led to interruptions in health care. One woman was moved to a new city which led to her diabetes becoming unstable – a potentially life-threatening condition, particularly when pregnant.</p>
<h2>Declining health</h2>
<p>All the women said their health deteriorated during this time. Their mental health worsened due to their asylum experience and they described feeling helpless, vulnerable, desperate and ashamed. </p>
<p>The women also spoke about how they felt scared for their baby’s future. Some women talked about missing their own mother and feeling very depressed and suicidal. One woman told us how she felt socially isolated and alone when her baby was born:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It broke me a lot because I was lonely…no-one just to give me just a five-minute break, [or say] ‘can I just hold the baby for you?’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The women’s physical health also suffered. They experienced weight loss due to a lack of food, and insomnia and headaches were commonly experienced. One woman described how she developed pelvic pain that led to her having to crawl to move around. Another woman described how her diabetes was poorly controlled due to not being able to eat regularly.</p>
<h2>Searching for support</h2>
<p>One woman visited her local authority every day with all her belongings, begging for somewhere to live. Another woman described how social services threatened to take her baby away when it was born, but would not help her find somewhere to live. </p>
<p>Women found support in local churches and charities. And although charity workers went “above and beyond” trying to find equipment for the baby, food and medicines, this help was limited. The women also told us about the kindness of neighbours who helped them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A gentleman, who used to bring the shopping round every week…that really touched her heart – she classes him as a grandad…he would come round and give her £20, just so that…it would be a help toward her transportation, because she had no money obviously </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Without the help of local volunteers, charities or kind neighbours, it is questionable whether all of the women in our study would have survived this period. Clearly then, as these women’s stories show, something needs to change to ensure migrant mothers and babies are not put at risk of destitution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146518/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Haith-Cooper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In some cases, women are left without food or anywhere to live for the duration of their pregnancy.Melanie Haith-Cooper, Reader in Maternity and Migrant Health, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1466732020-10-05T15:13:10Z2020-10-05T15:13:10ZFrom COVID-19 to the climate emergency: Lessons from this global crisis for the next one<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360216/original/file-20200928-22-iigpc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=110%2C0%2C5156%2C3056&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Erosion damage caused by Hurricane Hanna is seen along the Fisher border wall, a privately funded border fence, along the Rio Grande River near Mission, Texas, on July 30, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eric Gay)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic can teach us many things about how climate change emergencies manifest themselves, and how humanitarian organizations can think and do things differently.</p>
<p>COVID-19 is itself linked to some of the same issues as human-influenced climate change. <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-cause-prediction-prevention.html">The outbreak in humans of any zoonotic virus</a>, as SARS-CoV-2 is, goes immediately to <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/syr/">the poisonous way in which humans interact with the natural world</a> — habitat loss <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/covid19-urgent-call-to-protect-people-and-nature">pushing wild animals closer to human settlement</a>, remote mining and road-building putting more people into what were once wilderness areas, industrialized meat production introducing viruses into the food supply, <a href="https://dighr.yorku.ca/resource/the-lancet-countdown-on-health-and-climate-change-2019-policy-brief-on-humanitarian-impacts/">and so on</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-wake-up-call-our-war-with-the-environment-is-leading-to-pandemics-135023">Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some of the worst peaks of the pandemic have reportedly not been in the Global South but in the north, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/10/24/none-these-countries-us-included-is-fully-prepared-pandemic-report-says/">in rich societies that were ostensibly better prepared for a pandemic</a> but that have become unused to facing crises and so struggle to cope with them. Likewise, <a href="https://media.ifrc.org/ifrc/the-cost-of-doing-nothing/">the humanitarian consequences of climate change will dominate the lives of all countries, in all parts of the world</a>.</p>
<h2>We’re not all in it together</h2>
<p>Despite the pandemic’s global impact, any illusion that facing a common viral enemy might bring us together lasted a short second. As with all crises, COVID-19’s case numbers and mortality rates have tracked the fissures of racism, class and gender. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race">Black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of white Americans</a>, as <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/why-are-there-so-many-isolated-indigenous-peoples-infected-covid-19">reportedly</a> are <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/disaster-looms-indigenous-amazon-tribes-covid-19-cases-multiply/">Indigenous peoples in Brazil</a>. Climate change impacts <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/beyond-any-drought-root-causes-chronic-vulnerability-sahel%22%22">show a similar inequality</a> in which emerging crises disproportionately affect communities made vulnerable by longstanding, unaddressed disadvantages.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two health-care workers completely covered by white protective suits and face masks tend to patients on gurneys." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360094/original/file-20200926-16-1rm4508.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medical staff tend to patients at the intensive care unit of the Casalpalocco COVID-19 Clinic on the outskirts of Rome on March 25, 2020. Italy was hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic, putting pressure on its intensive care units.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>COVID-19 has found multilateralism incapable of delivering on its promise of co-operation between states to overcome global-level threats beyond the capacity of any one nation-state to handle. Three examples from many: the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31527-0/fulltext">Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization</a>, the <a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8a011de1-8206-4ebd-9ee1-26e670f9210e">scramble for personal protective equipment</a> including export restrictions and even charges of state piracy, and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/06/03/coronavirus-vaccine-global-race/">political race to secure COVID-19 vaccines</a>. </p>
<p>Comparable points apply to international co-operation on climate change. In the short term, the <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/06/25/covid-19-impacts-climate-change/">next-stage climate negotiations (COP26) have been delayed a year, as have international negotiations</a> such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the High Seas Treaty. In the longer term, the accommodations granted to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/17/polluter-bailouts-and-lobbying-during-covid-19-pandemic">polluting-industry lobbies</a> and allied states will only add to the challenges of international negotiations. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-global-ocean-treaty-could-protect-biodiversity-in-the-high-seas-139552">How a global ocean treaty could protect biodiversity in the high seas</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The instinctive response by states to the pandemic has been the opposite of co-operation: the hardening of bordering regimes. In early July 2020, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/more-than-nine-in-ten-people-worldwide-live-in-countries-with-travel-restrictions-amid-covid-19/">91 per cent of the world’s population</a> lived in <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/04/01/more-than-nine-in-ten-people-worldwide-live-in-countries-with-travel-restrictions-amid-covid-19/">countries with heightened border restrictions</a>. And refugees, migrants and asylum seekers have been stigmatized and targeted, <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2168">including in Greece</a>, <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2020/7/6/locked-down-and-left-behind-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-refugees-economic-inclusion">Malaysia</a>, <a href="https://blog.fluchtforschung.net/covid-19-and-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-in-south-africa/">South Africa</a>, <a href="https://www.animalpolitico.com/2020/04/migrantes-frente-covid-19-abandonados-mexico-fronteras-cerradas/">Mexico</a> and many other countries. A similarly repressive instinct, even the closure of external borders altogether, is reality for people <a href="https://environmentalmigration.iom.int/blogs/covid-19-climate-change-and-migration-constructing-crises-reinforcing-borders">fleeing the effects of climate change</a>.</p>
<h2>Extractivism — the only thing immune?</h2>
<p>One industry that seemingly is unaffected by the shutdowns is mining. <a href="https://www.gaiafoundation.org/mining-the-covid-19-pandemic/">Extractive industries have turned the pandemic into a boom time</a>, continuing operations by gaining “essential” status, lobbying successfully for weakened environmental regulations and allying with police and armed actors to repress environmental and Indigenous protests to this. </p>
<p>Canada has systematically <a href="https://theconversation.com/rolling-back-canadian-environmental-regulations-during-coronavirus-is-short-sighted-139636">used the COVID-19 crisis to curb environmental protections for communities and ecosystems</a> in Canada and beyond. It is not a coincidence that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2018.1559834">extractive industries and supporting governments are the key antagonists</a> in preventing action against climate change and in trampling on the rights of Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A large crowd on people walking." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360220/original/file-20200928-14-1h0xjut.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Honduran migrants walking toward the United States arrive at Chiquimula, Guatemala, on Oct. 16, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Moises Castillo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trust, denial, elite panic and lifeboats</h2>
<p>Some of the worst outbreaks have occurred in countries where political leaders have sought to downplay and deny the COVID-19 pandemic — most obviously in Brazil and the United States, but also in others, such as <a href="https://cpj.org/2020/04/alvaro-navarro-on-covering-covid-19-in-nicaragua-c/">Nicaragua</a>, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/death-and-denial-in-turkmenistan/">Turkmenistan</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/africa/tanzanias-coronavirus-president.html">Tanzania</a>. </p>
<p>COVID-19 denialism is grounded in the <a href="https://skepticalscience.com/history-FLICC-5-techniques-science-denial.html">same techniques</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/climate-science-deniers-downplaying-coronavirus-pandemic">same amplifiers</a> and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/03/16/climate-science-deniers-downplayed-covid-19-cato-acsh-aei">funders</a>, and the same intent as climate-change denialism. <a href="https://katz.substack.com/p/disarm-the-lifeboats">Rather than save the whole sinking ship, a panicked elite</a> seeks to <a href="http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_lifeboat_ethics_case_against_helping_poor.html">jettison those it does not value</a>. This is “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/9945562/Tropic_of_Chaos_Climate_Change_and_the_New_Geography_of_Violence">the politics of the armed lifeboat</a>”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is a real risk that strong states with developed economies will succumb to a politics of xenophobia, racism, police repression, surveillance and militarism and thus transform themselves into fortress societies while the rest of the world slips into collapse. By that course, developed economies would turn into neofascist islands of relative stability in a sea of chaos. … [But] A world in climatological collapse — marked by hunger, disease, criminality, fanaticism and violent social breakdown — will overwhelm the armed lifeboat. Eventually, all will sink in the same morass.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Dismantling the ‘armed lifeboat’</h2>
<p>The act of providing life-saving assistance and protection to the victims and survivors of emergencies and crises has its own value. But humanitarians need to do much more than simply bandaging the violence embedded in pandemics and in climate change.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with blue hair carries a paper bag and a pair of shoes as she steps among hundreds of pairs of shoes laid out in a grid in the public square." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360095/original/file-20200926-20-1v44vgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">During the performance ‘Covid today, climate crisis tomorrow’ at Sol square in downtown Madrid, Spain, a member of the Extinction Rebellion group walks among shoes representing people unable to attend due to COVID-19 on May 29, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The act of moving across borders to escape the effects of an emergency should be understood as more than a mere act of survival — but rather as <a href="https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/migration-as-decolonization/">an important step in decolonization</a>. The same with the protest actions of people who oppose discriminatory, exclusionary and violent policies.</p>
<p>COVID-19 and the health impacts of climate change are closely intertwined with centuries of colonialism, extractive capitalism and racism. And so, a humanitarian response will only hold meaning as truly human, when and if the related histories of harm and acts of contestation are listened to, learned from and are leading the way.</p>
<p>It requires doing things radically differently. Doing otherwise.</p>
<p><em>This article was co-authored by Sean Healy, head of reflection and analysis at Médecins Sans Frontières - Operational Centre, Amsterdam.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146673/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linn Biörklund does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As a zoonotic virus, COVID-19 is itself a symptom of human-influenced climate change. It is also indicative of the humanitarian impact of future environmental crises.Linn Biörklund, PhD Student Critical Human Geography and Research Fellow at Dahadaleh Institute for Global Health Research, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1441482020-09-09T12:04:21Z2020-09-09T12:04:21ZThe UK immigration system is broken – coronavirus and Brexit will make it even worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357022/original/file-20200908-24-rwf21j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C35%2C2964%2C2209&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A detainee holds a hand against her cell window at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre, Bedford.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bedfordshire-uk-08-aug-2015-detainee-351707972">Pete Maclaine/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2012.692799">Long waiting times</a> for asylum seekers, the tightening of rules for <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/student-visa-rules-tightened-by-government/2014823.article">student visas</a> – and more recently, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYRREyjC1LW9Mk4fReeS848kHbtPK2ao/view">convoluted procedures</a> for EU citizens – are just some of the issues with the UK immigration system. A system that will likely get even worse given the impact of Brexit and the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2020/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to">backlog of cases</a> created by the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>This all comes at a time when the UK immigration system is undergoing significant change. Freedom of movement for EU citizens will come to a stop by the end of 2020 in the UK. And a new <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-points-based-immigration-system-will-lead-to-care-crisis-143299">points-based system</a> is being introduced.</p>
<p>This could lead to more delays, backlogs, refused visa requests and an increase in enforced removals and detention of asylum seekers by immigration officials. As it stands, in 2019, 48% of asylum seekers were <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/deportation-and-voluntary-departure-from-the-uk/">forcibly returned</a> to their home country – with 98% of those made to return kept in detention while in the UK.</p>
<p>And according to The British Educational Research Association, international students are also <a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/international-students-and-covid-19-what-is-the-current-advice">at risk</a> of removal given their inability to study during lockdown. </p>
<h2>Who gets to stay</h2>
<p>Part of the problem in all of this is that the UK immigration system aims to create a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/hostile-environment-the-uk-governments-draconian-immigration-policy-explained-95460">hostile environment</a>” that makes staying in the UK as difficult as possible for people. Access to work is restricted as is housing, healthcare and bank accounts, with zero attention paid to the integration of asylum seekers. The hope is that people choose to “voluntarily leave”.</p>
<p>The UK also lacks a clear stance on the <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2017/is-voluntary-return-the-new-way-forward-for-managing-irregular-migration/">enforced return</a> of travellers and migrants to their place of origin. The UK has not signed the <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32008L0115&from=EN">EU Return Directive</a> which provides criteria as to when return migration should occur. And instead, the government has said it will formulate its <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2013/02/returning-migrants-EU-130220_10371.pdf">own policy</a> in this area. </p>
<p>The focus of which is likely to remain on <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2017/is-voluntary-return-the-new-way-forward-for-managing-irregular-migration/">controlling immigration</a>, so will likely build upon the present circumstances whereby enforced removal of asylum seekers is used to serve political purposes and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/24/british-hypocrisy-migrants">reduce immigration numbers</a> – with seemingly little regard for migrants’ circumstances.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protest placards outside immigration detention centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357025/original/file-20200908-20-nwf5no.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Morton Hall immigration detention centre, which has seen high levels of self-harm and violence, is to close and revert to being a prison.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/morton-halllincolnshireuk-january-20th-2018-eighty-1277329099">Ian Francis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in 2007, a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network/reports/docs/emn-studies/return-migration/11._uk_emn_ncp_return_country_study_final_12apr07not_for_publishing_en.pdf">report</a> for the European Migration Network stated that more research needs to be carried out on enforced and voluntary returns within the UK. The report highlighted how, without this, it would be difficult for evidence-based changes to be made. </p>
<p>But research still remains limited and unsystematic. And the Home Office statistics still lack considerable detail – with often only <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/deportation-and-voluntary-departure-from-the-uk/">limited information</a> available as to the reasons for a person’s removal. </p>
<h2>Windrush legacy</h2>
<p>The Windrush scandal is a prime example of this issue. <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/commonwealth-migrants-arriving-1971-year-ending-june-2017/">The Migration Observatory</a> estimates that 57,000 migrants who arrived in UK before 1973 were put at risk of deportation, homelessness and unemployment. In some cases people were also refused <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/windrush-scandal-nhs-cancer-treatment-high-court-legal-challenge-ruling-home-office-a8675781.html">NHS medical treatment</a>.</p>
<p>The Home Office believes that 160 Windrush migrants have been incorrectly detained or deported since 2002. The 2018 government-sponsored <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874022/6.5577_HO_Windrush_Lessons_Learned_Review_WEB_v2.pdf">Windrush Lessons Learned Review</a> has since emphasised the need to improve monitoring and evaluating of immigration policy with a focus on equality and human rights. It also suggests measures should tackle the “target-driven” culture within the Home Office, along with a simplification of the system.</p>
<p>A compensation scheme has also been set up. But has proved to be not fit for purpose – with nine in ten Windrush applicants still <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/windrush-compensation-payout-delay-home-office-a9692251.html">awaiting payment</a>. The scheme has also been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/27/windrush-payout-scheme-not-fit-for-purpose-say-lawyers">criticised</a> for its complicated bureaucratic procedures and the lack of legal aid given to applicants.</p>
<h2>A changing system?</h2>
<p>In a bid to tackle some of these criticisms, the government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/priti-patel-takes-action-to-implement-windrush-recommendations">has promised</a> mandatory training for all Home Office staff on the history of migration and race in the UK. It’s hoped that this, along with a higher proportion of BAME employees in senior roles, will offer a more compassionate “people not cases” approach. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protestors outside immigration detention centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357029/original/file-20200908-16-6d17th.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Around a third of immigration detainees are held for longer than 28 days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/morton-halllincolnshireuk-january-20th-2018-eighty-1277329126">Ian Francis/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government has also committed to opening up the Home Office to greater scrutiny and to impact assessments on the potential implications of policies. But this all contrasts sharply with Brexit and the UK goverenment’s overall aggressive approach towards immigration. </p>
<p>Just look at the way the <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2020/05/06/there-are-cracks-in-the-eu-settlement-scheme-who-will-fall-through-them/">EU Settlement Scheme</a> – for EU citizens who want to remain in the UK – has been rolled out. Along with the <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gYRREyjC1LW9Mk4fReeS848kHbtPK2ao/view">significant impact</a> it has had upon people’s mental health, wellbeing and sense of belonging in Britain. And problems accessing the scheme have only got worse as a result of COVID-19. </p>
<p>The UK parliament has reacted strongly against the conservative government’s approach to this settlement scheme, fearing discrimination of EU citizens and another “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/07/eu-parks-post-brexit-demands-avoid-early-clash-boris-johnson-ursula-von-der-leyen">Windrush catastrophe</a>”. </p>
<p>Ultimately though a system that seems to disregard <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/is-england-fairer-2016-most-disadvantaged-groups-migrants-refugees-asylum-seekers.pdf">fundamental human rights</a> in the way it <a href="https://www.ippr.org/files/2020-09/access-denied-hostile-environment-sept20.pdf">regulates and processes people</a> is bound to continue creating vulnerability for migrants. And no doubt the impact of Brexit and the pandemic will only make this worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144148/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zana Vathi receives funding from IMISCOE as part of the Research Initiative 'Revisiting Return Migration in Shifting Geopolitics'.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Carney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This is a system that will likely become even worse given the impact of Brexit and the backlog of cases created by the pandemic.Zana Vathi, Reader in Social Sciences, Edge Hill UniversitySamantha Carney, PhD Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant in Social Sciences, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1356922020-05-12T15:04:10Z2020-05-12T15:04:10ZHow South Africa is denying refugees their rights: what needs to change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334074/original/file-20200511-49556-160t6dq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Refugees who fled xenophobic attacks recently protested in Cape Town demanding to be sent elsewhere.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brenton Geach/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa hosted about <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/5d08d7ee7.pdf#page=67">273,488</a> refugees and asylum seekers, of whom 84% come from sub-Saharan Africa, in 2018 - the latest period for which figures are available. They come mostly from Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The main reasons for fleeing to South Africa are to escape poverty, political violence and war. </p>
<p>The policy and law applying to refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa is largely progressive. It’s mostly contained in the <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/legis/consol_act/ra199899/">Refugee Act of 1998</a>. Associated rights to well-being, equality before the law, human dignity and non discrimination are also enshrined in South Africa’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng-02.pdf">bill of rights</a>. </p>
<p>Refugees can settle anywhere in the country and <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10">enjoy freedom of movement</a>. Special permits have also allowed economic migrants from <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/applications-lesotho-exemption-permit-now-open">Lesotho</a> and <a href="https://africacheck.org/factsheets/what-does-the-new-special-dispensation-permit-mean-for-zimbabweans-in-sa/">Zimbabwe</a> to work and live in the country. </p>
<p>This approach is in contrast to the majority of African states, which <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10">put refugees in camps</a>, withholding several rights to <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10">social support, work and free movement</a>. </p>
<p>But in practice, refugees in South Africa also face many challenges in accessing their rights to social protections such as <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sabinet/afrins/2010/00000039/00000004/art00011">legal documents, social grants and security of stay</a>. </p>
<p>The government’s progressive ideas are seldom reflected by the officials entrusted with implementing them. Officials, particularly in the departments of social development, education, home affairs and the police stand accused of <a href="http://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16197">bias, prejudice and unprofessionalism</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16197">My PhD thesis</a>, examined the implementation of the Refugee Act, and the factors that affect the ability of forced migrants to convert their rights into protections. I found that the <a href="http://ecommons.hsrc.ac.za/handle/20.500.11910/10889">inconsistent interpretation and application</a> of the act makes it difficult for refugees and asylum seekers to access their rights.</p>
<p>The failure to regularise the <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/refugee-status-asylum">national asylum system</a>, which is responsible for the documentation of applicants for refugee status and adjudication of appeals, has led to huge capacity constraints. These are evidenced by backlogs that leave many applicants without requisite documents. </p>
<p>The consequences of this are far reaching. Vulnerable undocumented people make it harder to plan or manage social services for all. It also poses a threat to security, stability and social cohesion.</p>
<h2>Bureaucracy not working efficiently</h2>
<p>South Africa’s asylum management system is designed for 50,000 applications a year, but has had to grapple with numbers as high as <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/afr/statistics/unhcrstats/576408cd7/unhcr-global-trends-2015.html">222,300 in 2009 and 62,200 in 2015</a>.</p>
<p>While <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/refugee-status-asylum">transit permits</a> are issued at the border to those intending to claim asylum (giving them 14 days to do so), not everyone receives them. Such people are thus <a href="http://www.migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/No-Way-In-Barriers-to-Access-Service-and-Administrative-Justice-at-South-Africa%E2%80%99s-Refugee-Reception-Offices.-pdf.pdf">unlawfully refused the right to apply for asylum</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-takes-fresh-steps-to-restrict-rights-of-refugees-130606">South Africa takes fresh steps to restrict rights of refugees</a>
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<p>The asylum application process is quite simple. It includes having one’s fingerprints and photograph taken, and undergoing an assessment of the reasons for seeking refugee status. The rejections have been <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/south-africa-failing-asylum-system-is-exacerbating-xenophobia/">as high as 96%</a>. While bureaucratic inefficiency is partly a cause for high rejection rates, <a href="http://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16197">illegitimate asylum claims by mostly economic immigrants from relatively stable nations</a> have also contributed. These rejections have resulted in a high number of appeals and backlogs.</p>
<p>The backlog is worsened by the fact that appeals are adjudicated by a single <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a130-980.pdf">Refugee Appeal Board</a> for the whole country. The board sits <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2017/19.html">only two or three times a year</a>. The illegitimate rejection of appeals <a href="http://ukzn-dspace.ukzn.ac.za/handle/10413/16197">is rampant</a>, with Amnesty International partly attributing this to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/south-africa-failing-asylum-system-is-exacerbating-xenophobia/">“mistakes of fact”</a>.</p>
<p>In 2015, South Africa had its highest backlog, with <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/statistics/unhcrstats/576408cd7/unhcr-global-trends-2015.html?query=global%20trends">over a million asylum applications</a> pending at any stage of the asylum procedure. A 2019 survey of migrant children in Limpopo, Western Cape and Gauteng found that only 7.99% had refugee status papers, 15.09% had asylum papers and <a href="https://scalabrini.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Scalabrini_Centre_Cape_Town_Foreign_Children_in_Care_Comparative_Report_South_Africa_2019.pdf">close to 40% were undocumented</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/334080/original/file-20200511-30864-bycdup.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zimbabwean illegal migrants skip the border into South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook</span></span>
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<p>Most of the refugee reception offices at border areas were closed in 2011-2012, leaving only three open in <a href="http://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/121126cormsa.pdf">(Musina, Pretoria and Durban)</a>. The authorities claimed this would speed up the processing of asylum applications, and make it easier to <a href="http://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/docs/121126cormsa.pdf">separate economic migrants from genuine refugees.</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, it has made the renewal of legal documents to stay in the country more difficult and expensive for asylum seekers. This is mostly due to the high costs of travelling to the few remaining offices to renew asylum papers every six months.</p>
<p>The Cape Town refugee reception office was only reopened in January 2020 after being closed for seven years. This was after the High Court had ordered its reopening <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-09-29-reopen-cape-town-refugee-centre-appeal-court-orders-home-affairs/">in March 2018</a>.</p>
<h2>Experiences of migrants</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sajs.co.za/article/view/6210">My study</a> on the way government departments in the KwaZulu-Natal Province implement the Refugee Act supports the view that the actions of low level officials counteract government refugee policy. I conducted interviews and focus group discussions with members of the Congolese refugee community in Pietermaritzburg. I also interviewed several nongovernmental organisations that work with refugees.</p>
<p>The refugee participants in the study complained of being forced to pay bribes and being made to wait longer for services, or being denied such services altogether. </p>
<p>Some municipal councillors were also accused of denying refugees the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0001699311427746">right to work or to trade</a>, by declaring trading spaces as a preserve for citizens only. This is contrary to the Refugee Act, which gives refugees the right to earn income. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-need-to-do-more-for-refugees-affected-by-coronavirus-heres-how-135861">Governments need to do more for refugees affected by coronavirus: here's how</a>
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<p>The Act also gives refugee permit holders who have been in South Africa for more than five years, the right to apply for permanent residence. This right is also contained in the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3b66c2aa10">United Nations protocol on the status of refugees</a>. </p>
<p>But, this has remained elusive. Over 67% of those who qualify continue to have <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/afr/statistics/unhcrstats/5d08d7ee7/unhcr-global-trends-2018.html">only asylum seeker permits</a> beyond five years. Those who do qualify must first apply for certification from the <a href="https://www.refugee.co.za/standing-committee-for-refugee-affairs/">Standing Committee for Refugees</a>. If they fail, their refugee status permits are withdrawn, leading many to refrain from applying.</p>
<p>Thus, security of stay has remained illusive for many refugees. Some have been stuck at various stages of the asylum procedure <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/south-africa-failing-asylum-system-is-exacerbating-xenophobia/">for over 19 years</a>. Without security of stay, refugees’ claim to civil and property rights in South Africa remains low.</p>
<h2>What needs to happen</h2>
<p>South Africa can take a few basic steps to improve its bureaucracy so that asylum seekers can enjoy their legal rights .</p>
<p>The most immediate interventions would be to streamline the workings of its asylum application system and the Refugee Appeal Board. Their technical capacity needs to be improved to cope with the volume of applications. </p>
<p>Stakeholders like academics, faith leaders and nongovernmental organisations can also play a part, as recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/comprehensive-refugee-response-framework-crrf.html">Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework</a>. They can work together to share information, exchange skills, offer human rights education and mediate in disputes. They can help build the capacity of state organs to perform efficiently, and with the necessary empathy. They could also help monitor and evaluate the performance of the bureaucrats.</p>
<p>A purely top down model, where the state is solely responsible for implementing refugee policy, is clearly not working well. It’s now time to try a new approach: partnering with other stakeholders to ensure that government’s progressive policies actually benefit refugees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sikanyiso Masuku does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The policy and law applying to refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa is largely progressive. But, in practice, they continue to endure hardship and unfair treatment by officials.Sikanyiso Masuku, Postdoctoral Researcher at Institute for Democracy Citizenship and Public Policy in Africa, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1341102020-03-22T12:21:14Z2020-03-22T12:21:14ZCoronavirus: Racism and the long-term impacts of emergency measures in Canada<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322041/original/file-20200320-22610-18unm9x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C3545%2C2737&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Asylum seekers cross the border from New York into Canada on March 18 at Hemmingford, Que., two days before Canada said it would now send those seeking asylum back to the U.S. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The dangers to public health during the COVID-19 pandemic are terrifying, so it’s not surprising governments around the world are taking extraordinary measures to curb its spread, including closing borders to non-nationals.</p>
<p>Canada has become <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/coronavirus-travel-restrictions-border-shutdowns-country-200318091505922.html">one of many countries to either partially or completely close their borders</a> and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also announced that <a href="https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/asylum-seekers-to-be-turned-back-at-u-s-border-prime-minister-says">Canada will no longer consider asylum claims</a>. </p>
<p>We are living through an exceptional situation and governments are taking extreme steps as a result. At the same time, we know extraordinary measures can have enduring and profoundly damaging effects.</p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.9_08039/2?r=0&s=1">the War Measures Act</a>, the predecessor to the <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/e-4.5/index.html">Emergencies Act</a> (the legislation <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6690293/coronavirus-emergencies-act-canada/">that Trudeau has considered invoking as part of the government’s response to the pandemic</a>), was used on three occasions: during the First World War, the Second World War and the 1970 FLQ Crisis in Québec. On each of these occasions, there was broad support for its enactment and then subsequent concern about the scope of its application.</p>
<h2>Thousands interned during WWI</h2>
<p>During the First World War, <a href="https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/enemy-aliens/the-internment-of-ukrainian-canadians/">8,579 “enemy aliens” were interned </a> — the term referred to citizens of countries that were at war with Canada who resided in Canada — as well as hundreds of conscientious objectors.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=470&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322044/original/file-20200320-22594-8e5ey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this photo from Dec. 9, 1941, two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Canadian Navy officer questions Japanese Canadian fishermen while confiscating their boat in Esquimault, B.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Archives of Canada/THE CANADIAN PRESS</span></span>
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<p>Almost 22,000 Japanese Canadians were interned during the Second World War following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war against Imperial Japan. About 75 per cent of those interned were Canadian citizens, including 13,000 people who were Canadian-born. Under the sweeping powers of the War Measures Act, the federal government confiscated their property — including land, fishing boats and businesses — and sold it at a discount, using some of the funds to pay for the costs of internment.</p>
<p>During <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP16CH1PA4LE.html">the FLQ crisis</a> following the kidnappings of British diplomat James Cross and Québec cabinet minister and deputy premier Pierre Laporte, the military and police conducted 3,000 searches, detained 497 people, including Québec nationalists and labour activists, in the pursuit of suspected accomplices. Only 62 people were ever criminally charged.</p>
<p>The fallout from all of these excesses was tangible: Ukrainian Canadians, who made up the bulk of the “enemy aliens” in the First World War, fought for decades to be recognized as full citizens; <a href="https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/Pages/Japanese-redress-campaign.aspx">Japanese Canadians sought and received redress</a> more than four decades after their internment; René Levesque and the Parti Québecois roared to power just six years after the FLQ crisis and very nearly achieved the separatist dream of an independent Québec in 1980.</p>
<p>And so with great power, comes great responsibility.</p>
<p>This old adage is all the more relevant if one considers the way many of the travel bans have been instituted along national lines: allowing citizens to move but restricting the movement of others.</p>
<h2>Citizenship can be exclusionary</h2>
<p>In efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19, lines of responsibility and accountability are being forcefully drawn around the lines of citizenship. This is troubling if one considers that citizenship can be exclusionary, especially when it creates hierarchies of priority and, seemingly, of human value.</p>
<p>It means, for instance, refugees and unaccompanied minors have been “effectively abandoned,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/18/ngos-raise-alarm-as-coronavirus-strips-support-from-eu-refugees">according to NGO workers in Europe</a>.</p>
<p>Canada has won international praise over the last few years for its commitment to refugee resettlement in particular, as evidenced by the arrival of 25,000 Syrian refugees in a few short months.</p>
<p>But Trudeau has announced that due to these “exceptional times,” a new agreement has been signed with the United States that would see asylum-seekers crossing the border on foot returned to the U.S. This exceptional reaction goes against Canada’s commitments under <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees</a> and a 1985 Supreme Court ruling that says refugee claimants have a right to a fair hearing (the <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/39/index.do">Singh decision</a>).</p>
<p>The implicit and explicit nationalism apparent in many state responses to COVID-19, including in the Canadian context, is not necessarily “contrary to our values” as <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-canada-u-s-border-closure-other-travel-restrictions-undermine-our-values-133428">some have argued</a>.</p>
<p>Rather, some of Canada’s earliest restrictions on migration and mobility related to people who were “physically defective,” “feeble-minded” or “afflicted with any loathsome disease” to use the language of <a href="https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/immigration-act-1910">the 1910 Immigration Act</a>. This same act effectively prohibited Black migration to Canada from the United States and the Caribbean on the basis of that they were “unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada.” </p>
<h2>A ban on Chinese immigration</h2>
<p>Prior to that, the federal government used immigration laws in the forms of <a href="https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/the-chinese-immigration-act-1885">punitive taxes to exclude Chinese migrants</a> who were considered undesirable, in part because of commonly held stereotypes that people from China <a href="https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/royal-commission-on-chinese-immigration-1885">were immoral, dishonest, unclean, disease-prone and would never assimilate</a>. These perceived differences and the ineffectiveness of the original head tax led to <a href="https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/chinese-immigration-act-1923">a near total ban on Chinese migration from 1923 to 1947</a>.</p>
<p>Structurally, Canada’s immigration system — and its subsequent and related border controls — was designed to exclude as much as to include. This remains the case today.</p>
<p>As we navigate our current public health issues, it bears contemplation not only about immediate challenges but also what will come after.</p>
<p>During the pandemic, there have been <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/02/chinese-canadians-denounce-rising-xenophobia-tied-coronavirus-200202191216923.html">many disturbing stories</a> of Asian Canadians being targeted and harassed because of racist perceptions about who they are and where they come from — a situation compounded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s deliberate, nationalistic and racist insistence to give the coronavirus an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/us/politics/china-virus.html">ethnic and geographic association</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">It took Canada almost 80 years to officially apologize for refusing a ship carrying hundreds of Jewish refugees to land in 1939.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is notable that this violence has been directed at people of Asian descent, even though the disease has been spread by travellers of many different ethnicities. This difference reflects the easy associations of otherness of the kind that shaped foundational exclusionary immigration laws and regulations and, apparently, continue to resonate in the present.</p>
<p>This is an easy moment to draw lines between us and them, to talk about “our neighbours” and “foreign travellers” as though they are not one and the same. But the long-term damage could be very great, particularly for racialized and vulnerable communities that have experienced the impact of exclusionary migration measures historically.</p>
<p>The decision to close the border to refugees is bitterly ironic in light of Trudeau’s 2018 <a href="https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2018/11/07/prime-minister-delivers-apology-regarding-fate-passengers-ms-st-louis">official apology</a> for the Canadian government’s exclusion in 1939 of Jewish refugees aboard the MS St. Louis.</p>
<p>The past and the future should be part of our thinking in the present. And to be clear, now is no time for nationalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Madokoro receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Canada has closed its borders to asylum-seekers and non-citizens because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar emergency measures over the years should teach us that now is not the time for nationalism.Laura Madokoro, Associate Professor, Department of History, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1066452020-02-14T10:54:40Z2020-02-14T10:54:40ZHow people in immigration detention try to cope with life in limbo<p>The British Home Office has received heavy criticism in recent weeks after it emerged people held in immigration detention centres were <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-office-immigration-detention-phone-outage-deportation-flight-legal-advice-a9323806.html">struggling to access mobile phone reception</a> and could not reach lawyers to challenge their imminent deportation.</p>
<p>In the year to June 2019, just over <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-june-2019/how-many-people-are-detained-or-returned">24,000 people were detained</a> in the UK under immigration law while they awaited the outcome of their appeals. Most of these detainees have experienced forced migration due to war or economic destitution, leaving behind their families. This forced migration is often life threatening, as shown by the tragic deaths of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-prevent-the-deaths-of-more-vietnamese-migrants-trying-to-reach-britain-125989">39 Vietnamese migrants</a> in a lorry in late 2019. </p>
<p>For those who reach their new location and are then detained, immigration detention becomes a significant threat to their social, financial, and psychological well-being. My colleagues and I saw these issues first hand in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2543">series of recent interviews</a> we conducted with 40 people detained in UK immigration removal centres. </p>
<h2>Powerlessness</h2>
<p>As well as depriving people of their family life, employment and future hopes, detention removes social resources – such as support from close friends and family – that are essential when dealing with stressful situations. This exacerbates feelings of loss and loneliness, making it particularly difficult for detainees to cope with their situation. A man we interviewed, detained for two months, told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>24 hours I am upset. When I go sleeping I see bad dreams. I wake up and I check, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock. 24 hours, I feel to kill myself. This country treats animals better. Animals have human rights, but we don’t?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We also saw detainees held in a perpetual state of powerlessness, unable to plan their futures as they waited for faceless officials to decide their fate. Detention becomes an additional layer of frustration and pain on top of feelings of exclusion from British society and the denial of basic human rights. </p>
<p>Detainees tend to perceive their detainment as a clear indication that they are not wanted in the host country, and not trusted to live in the community while awaiting a decision about their case. One interviewee, detained for five months, described how he understood why some people attempt suicide in immigration detenton: “Because it is inhuman the way they treat you in here.” One <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/11/revealed-two-suicide-attempts-every-day-uk-deportation-detention-centres">freedom of information request</a> showed that there were two suicide attempts recorded every day between April and June 2018 in immigration deportation centres.</p>
<p>Our study explored the ways detainees try to make sense and cope with these challenging and traumatic experiences within detention. The existing social networks of many of the people we interviewed were often painfully distant and unable to provide much-needed support. Families and friends were forced to make long and expensive journeys to remote immigration detention centres to support their loved ones in their darkest moments. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-immigration-detention-compares-around-the-world-76067">How immigration detention compares around the world</a>
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<h2>Solidarity among detainees</h2>
<p>Many detainees, however, did not have anybody who they felt they could turn to, while others didn’t wish to burden family members with their distress. In such cases, they turned to fellow detainees for support. Despite coming from different backgrounds and cultures, the detainees have shared experiences of exclusion and confinement, creating a sense of common fate.</p>
<p>This brought them together despite their differences, allowing them to share an understanding of the suffering and thereby create a source of meaningful and valuable mutual support. As one woman, who had been detained for a month, told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>People try to help in the best way they can. You are surrounded by a lot of good people because we are here for the same reason at the end of the day. If someone is very emotional like that, they try to be there for that person so you are never alone around here, never alone.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315002/original/file-20200212-61974-1fhjxwl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detainees try to support each other, but it’s not easy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">By tuaindeed/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet these connections are not always long lasting. There is a high turnover of people coming through each immigration detention centre, as release and deportation are both relatively common.</p>
<p>It’s also not always easy to provide support to other detainees. When a person is suffering themselves, bearing witness to others’ suffering is very hard and occasionally it adds to their own burden. This sometimes led detainees to retreat into their rooms to avoid observing the suffering of others. One detainee told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Cause I don’t want to hang around the wing, it’s too negative the vibes, very negative. People, they just talking about their problems. I got plenty
myself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For every coping strategy that works within detention, there are many that do not work, and the daily struggle persists, with <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2867358">some detainees turning to self-harm</a> or attempting suicide. </p>
<p>Detention centres provide heartening examples of human resilience, but our research also shows that detention can exacerbate the suffering of already vulnerable people. The serious psychological impact of detention is yet another reason why detention for immigration reasons should stop.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106645/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blerina Kellezi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Detainees, held in a perpetual state of powerlessness, try to support each other.Blerina Kellezi, Lecturer in Social Psychology, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.