Comparing Immigration Detention in Britain and France: A Matter of Time?

Abstract

In this article, we explore the human rights implications of immigration detention in Britain and France by focusing on duration. In so doing, we show how practices in both systems fail to meet basic human rights protections, raising urgent questions about the legitimacy and justification of these sites of confinement. Whereas in the uk problems arise from the absence of a statutory upper time limit to detention, in France it is the brevity for which foreign nationals may be held that raises humanitarian concerns. In the uk, the uncertain duration of detention makes it difficult for detainees to obtain or retain legal advice. Those who are held for long periods of time struggle to maintain their right to family life, while most find the lack of clarity about the period of their confinement hard to endure. In France, where most detainees are released or deported within a matter of days, it is often difficult to access due process and legal protections in time. This brief period of confinement before expulsion contrasts with its enduring effect on their family ties and future. Drawing on policy documents, law, and the limited body of empirical material available on these carceral sites, we map the similarities and differences between them in order to identify the limits as well as some prospects of human rights in immigration detention.

Immigration Detention, Punishment and the Transformation of Justice

“…Across Europe, matters are much the same. The police are increasingly employed directly in border control, tasked not only with stopping and searching suspected irregular migrants but also with detaining and deporting them (Bosworth and Vannier, 2016; van der Woude and Brouwer, 2017). On average, one in five people in prison across Europe have been born abroad.…”

“…Such matters, in the UK at least, are dwarfed by the absence of a statutory time limit for all but those who are pregnant or under 18 (Bosworth and Vannier, 2016). 7 The fact that nobody knows how long they will be detained, trumps all other concerns an officer at IRC Colnbrook made clear:[The Criminal Case Directorate] CCD 8 wants to make detention more of a deterrent.…”

“… 10. In contrast to the legal challenge to the 42-day detention of terror suspects, for instance, indefinite detention for immigration matters has proven hard to eradicate (Bosworth and Vannier, 2016; Costello, 2015; Thwaites, 2014). …”

Blurred lines: Detaining asylum seekers in Britain and France

“…Then we set out the shared legal context in which these systems operate, before turning to the two-country comparison in more detail to tease out the similarities and differences in their treatment of those awaiting removal under the Dublin Regulation. By identifying points of commonality as well as distinctions between the two countries, we demonstrate once again the utility of a comparative approach in developing our understanding of the purpose and impact of this form of administrative custody (Arbogast, 2016;Bosworth and Vannier, 2016;Latour, 2014;Strban et al, 2018). We have chosen the UK and France both because they detain the greatest number of immigrants and asylum seekers (Global Detention Project, 2019) and because they exemplify a common turn in the EU towards securitisation.…”

The pains of detainment: Experience of time and coping strategies at immigration detention centres

“…Bosworth and Kellezi, 2015) and after release (Steel et al, 2006; Zimmerman et al, 2011). While numerous studies find a period of detention is marked by profound uncertainty (Bosworth, 2013, 2014; Bosworth and Vannier, 2016; Griffiths, 2013, 2014), little scholarly attention has been paid to how detainees manage time inside (though a notable exception is Turnbull, 2016).…”