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. […]
Americas
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. […]
Mexico: Joint Submission to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
In a joint submission, the GDP and Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Matías de Córdova (CDHFMC) encouraged the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to review Mexico’s immigration detention practices and policies. […]
GUEST OPINION: Canada – Rejecting and Promoting Migrant Detention, All in a Day’s Work
By Anne-Rachelle Boulanger On 16 June 2023, two decisions were taken in Canada with important implications for immigration detention. First, the province of Ontario confirmed that it would no longer allow the federal government to detain migrants in its provincial prisons, in line with recent decisions in other provinces. But just a few hours after […]
