ABSTRACT
This essay draws on personal stories, examples from the authors’ Canadian legal practice, national and international policy and legal case studies, and political sociology to argue that immigration detention inevitably and unjustifiably produces grave human rights infringements. Detention lacks an official definition, and is here understood as a country’s incarceration of asylum seekers and other migrants in the effort to resolve discrepancies in their immigration statuses. The essay focuses on detention’s unlawful and harmful uses and abuses, including the American “zero tolerance” policy and its instrumentalization as a “deterrence” mechanism. By situating the reader in the real-world ramifications of detention policies in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and select European jurisdictions, the essay illustrates how irregular immigration status can erode even non-derogable or supposedly fundamental human rights, including the rights to liberty and to the security of the person.
