Refugee Survey Quarterly
45
facilities, including regular jails, at an annual cost of US$1.7 billion.17 In the UK, during 2010 approximately 26,000 people were detained on immigration powers; half of
them were asylum applicants.18 Overall, in the EU there is a recorded detention capacity of at least 37,000, and between the years 2000 and 2012 the number of immigration detention centres increased from 324 to 473.19
The proliferation of immigration detention worldwide has gone hand in hand
with the adoption of restrictive migration policies such as increased border controls
and a stringent return policy, the propagation of anti-migrant rhetoric in the public
sphere, and the “criminalisation” of migrants in irregular situations. These trends are
observed worldwide and have intensified in the last decade following the post 9/11
securitisation of the migration agenda.20 In the EU more specifically, national legislation in 22 out of 25 Member States punishes unauthorised entry with sanctions,
which include imprisonment and often a fine.21 Ten EU Member States also punish
irregular stay, with a fine and sometimes imprisonment.22 Sanctions can also be
imposed on people who assist migrants in an irregular situation – national legislation
in eight EU Member States penalises people who help migrants to stay in the country even if their motivation is not profit driven.
The long period of administrative detention (18 months) allowed by the EU
Returns Directive is also indicative of the trend to “criminalise” the infringement of
immigration laws. Eighteen months of deprivation of personal liberty is comparable
to penalties handed out for serious criminal offences in many countries.23 Moreover,
migrants and asylum-seekers under administrative detention may also be detained in
ordinary prisons, as is the case in Cyprus and the US, where 67 per cent of migrants
and asylum-seekers is detained in county and city jails.24 The “criminalisation” of
17 Detention Watch Network, The Influence of the Private Prison Industry in Immigration Detention, Washington,
DC, Detention Watch Network, undated, available at: http://bit.ly/1htGvGA (last visited 22 Feb. 2016).
18 N. Tsangarides, The Second Torture: The Immigration Detention of Torture Survivors, London, Medical
Justice, 2012, available at: http://bit.ly/1pugQlX (last visited 22 Feb. 2016).
19 Migreurop, Carte Atlas, Migreurop, 2012, available at: http://www.migreurop.org/IMG/pdf/Carte_
Atlas_Migreurop_19122012_Version_francaise_version_web.pdf (last visited 22 Feb. 2016)
20 A. Moscoe, “Not So Normative After All: The Securitization of Migration since 9/11 and the Erosion of
Normative Power in Europe”, Carleton Review of International Affairs, 2, 2013; D. Schlentz, Did 9/11
Matter? Securitization of Asylum and Immigration in the European Union in the Period from 1992 to 2008,
Oxford, Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper Series No. 56, University of Oxford, 2010.
21 Unauthorised entry can include crossing the border into a country illegally (not from an authorised crossing point), using false travel documents, or legal documents but providing false information in these
documents. C. Morehouse & M. Blomfield, Irregular Migration in Europe, Washington, DC, Migration
Policy Institute, 2011, available at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/TCM-irregular-migrationeurope (last visited 22 Feb. 2016).
22 Irregular stay can be the result of overstaying a visa-free travel period or temporary residence permit; loss
of status because of non-renewal of permit for failing to meet residence requirements or breaching conditions of residence; being born into irregularity; absconding during the asylum procedure or failing to
leave a host country after a negative decision; a State’s failure to enforce a return decision. See
Morehouse & Blomfield, Irregular Migration in Europe.
23 F. Bertin, E. Fontanari & L. Gennari, At the Limen: The Implementation of the Return Directive in Italy,
Spain and Cyprus, Project by Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2013, available at:
http://www.borderline-europe.de/sites/default/files/features/2014_Final_brochure_at-the-limen.pdf
(last visited 22 Feb. 2016).
24 A. Kalhan, “Rethinking Immigration Detention”, Columbia Law Review Sidebar, 110, 2010, 42–57;
Detention Watch Network, About The U.S. Detention and Deportation System, Washington, DC,