May 3, 2020

This Week in Human Rights News

 
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IMMIGRATION DETENTION UNDER COVID-19

Source: Al Jazeera, WLRN, BBC, Miami Herald, Euronews

  • A judge in South Florida ordered on Wednesday the release of hundreds of migrants kept in three detention centres after she determined their continued detention was a “cruel and unusual punishment.”

  • The decision was made in response to legal action pursued by immigration rights groups that sued the federal government last month, asking to release migrants because of the risks of infection in the facilities.

  • Across the US, immigration detention centres have reached a point of crisis, with little access to food, medical assistance, hygiene products or protective equipment against contagion, as reported by the BBC. Judge Cooke wrote that “ICE has failed to provide detainees in some detention centres with masks, soap and other cleaning supplies.”

  • The move sets a precedent that could be adopted by other jurisdictions and further free migrants who are kept in detention facilities with no criminal charges.

  • It follows decisions made in coronavirus-hard-hit Spain, where the government announced in March that immigration detention centres should be emptied during the state of emergency to prevent a health crisis within their walls, although the norm does not apply to temporary relocation centres, where over 600 migrants are awaiting deportation. 

  • Other countries, such as Portugal, have undertaken radical immigration policies that safeguard the rights of irregular migrants during this crisis.

  • In the UK, over 400 people were released by mid-April from immigration detention, many of whom have been left with no accommodation during the lockdown.

 
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