Argentina, like much of South America, has historically not employed detention as an immigration enforcement tool and has recognised migration as a fundamental right. In recent years, however, the country has shifted towards a more restrictive approach. Under the populist firebrand President Javier Milei, this shift has accelerated considerably, including by amending the country’s legal framework to emphasise national security, encouraging Argentinians to report “illegal immigrants,” and issuing controversial decrees boosting the country’s detention and deportation powers. […]
Americas
Trinidad and Tobago: Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child
Trinidad and Tobago has a long track record placing children and families in immigration detention, including children fleeing nearby Venezuela, and the country has no legal provision prohibiting the detention of children and their families. Although not detained in the country’s sole dedicated immigration detention centre in Aripo, child migrants and refugees and their families […]
Trinidad and Tobago: Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review
Since 2018 Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) has experienced unprecedented flows of migrants and asylum seekers from Venezuela, many of them entering via irregular channels. The country’s legislation, however, treats irregular entry as a criminal offence and it continues to lack asylum-specific legislation, leaving all irregular arrivals vulnerable to arrest and detention upon arrival. Together with our partner in the Caribbean, the Caribbean Human Rights Centre, we highlighted shared concerns regarding the country’s immigration detention policies and practices to the Universal Periodic Review Working Group–and called for important changes to ensure respect for non-nationals’ rights. […]
Mexico’s Immigration Policies and Human Rights – Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 26
In this critical examination of Mexico’s history of immigration control, authors Flynn and Ortiz-Gonzalez demonstrate the country’s use of euphemistic language to reframe coercive practices as humanitarian ones, concealing the persistence of punitive migration enforcement and masking its on-going role as a surrogate enforcer of U.S migration control.
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United States and El Salvador: A Scheme to Deport Migrants from the US to a “Human Rights Black Hole”
On 7 April, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could continue deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador’s “supermax” CECOT prison, referred to by observers as a “human rights black hole.” In March, more than 260 people were deported and placed in the facility under the US’s controversial agreement with El […]
Panama Plans to Deport Irregular Migrants with Financial Support from the US
Panama’s government is planning to ramp up deportations of migrants who reach the country irregularly through the Darién Gap at the border between Colombia and Panama. The jungle trek is a highly dangerous route which sees hundreds of thousands of migrants, including children, crossing every year, while also making many vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse, […]
Calls for Closure of Controversial Detention Centre in Trinidad and Tobago
After a Trinidad and Tobago court recognised “shocking and appalling” treatment of a Venezuelan child at the Chaguaramas Heliport detention facility, some are calling for the controversial facility to be closed. Previously, detainees have protested the conditions they were forced to endure at the facility, and human rights activists in the country have argued that […]
Dominican Republic Deportations Surge as Authorities Announce Opening of New Detention Centre
Since our last update in December 2022, the Dominican Republic has continued to step up its policy of mass deportations of Haitians, violating the rights and dignity of non-nationals despite numerous calls for authorities to moderate their actions. To facilitate these deportations, the General Directorate of Immigration has announced plans to establish a new immigration […]
Chile Continues To Step Up Anti-Migrant Efforts Amidst Growing International Criticism
On 17 December, Chileans will head to the polls to decide if they approve a new draft of the country’s constitution, to replace that which has been in force since Pinochet’s dictatorship. Amongst the proposed new constitution’s articles, written by a right-wing dominated committee, is one requiring the expulsion of irregular migrants from the country. […]
The Bahamas: Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Together with CEJIL and OBMICA, the GDP submitted information to the WGAD regarding the Bahamas’ deprivation of liberty of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, stateless persons, and other at-risk groups. […]
