Immigration Detainees: Detention and Jail Non-Citizens

immigration detainees: The woman is the 10th person to die in immigration detention in the last five years and at least the sixteenth since 2000, according to Toronto Star. Immigration detainees are not criminally charged, but are detained on an indefinite basis, either because they have been deemed a danger to the public, are unlikely to show up for their deportation or because their identity is in doubt. The agency, which has the power to arrest and jail non-citizens, would not disclose the woman's identity, country of origin or her cause of death, as per its usual protocol. The average length of detention last year was 19.5 days, but there is no limit to how long someone can stay in detention and some cases drag on for months or years. An immigration detainee's detention is reviewed every 30 days by the quasi-judicial Immigration and Refugee Board, but where the person is detained is at the sole discretion of CBSA officers and is not subject to any oversight. Article Continued Below In Ontario, immigration detainees are held either at the Immigration Holding Centre, a minimum-security facility in Etobicoke exclusive to immigration detainees, or in maximum-security provincial jails, where they are treated as sentenced criminals and those awaiting trial are. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.