Monday December 4, 2006

Refugee claimants seeking asylum in New Zealand are now just as likely to be held in jail as in the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. The Labour Department confirms that 23 people claiming refugee status were being held in jail on October 17, compared with 22 at the low-security Mangere centre. 

The Labour Department data shows that on October 17: 

* 45 people who had claimed refugee status were being held in custody - 23 in jail and 22 at Mangere. 

* 18 of the 45 were waiting for initial decisions from the department. 

* 11 had been rejected by the department and were waiting for decisions from the Refugee Status Appeals Authority. 

* 13 had lodged at least one appeal to the Associate Immigration Minister, currently Clayton Cosgrove. 

* Five of those held in jail lodged refugee claims only after being served with a removal order, and were detained pending a decision on their claim. 

* Seven had been through all appeals up to the associate minister and had been rejected every time, but required travel documents to leave the country. Five of these were "refusing to co-operate with Department of Labour staff in obtaining a travel document".

(Source: NZ Newspapers)