The political rhetoric of the immigration/asylum debate has helped to create a climate where the Government wants to be seen to be active in removing people with criminal convictions, those without documents (including visa overstayers) and people whose asylum claims have been unsuccessful. There are targets for numbers to be removed and large numbers of deportations are trumpeted as a sign of political success.

Immigration officers, acting on behalf of the Home Office, have the right to detain anyone they suspect of committing an immigration offence, people waiting for a decision on an application for asylum this country or about to be removed. in practice this may include people who have strayed across the border, people seeking asylum who live in the community but who are thought to have broken the Home Office conditions e.g. by spending time away from home or by getting paid work. Detention periods may be very short or quite lengthy.

Immigration detention
The issue of immigration detention in Northern Ireland has given concern for some time. Numbers have risen over the years and there have been anxieties around treatment and conditions. In the past, the major campaigning issue was around the stigmatising of people who had not been convicted of any crime but were held in prison or prison-like conditions. A number of bodies here, including the Churches, have made representations to Government over the years. Partly because of this, male detainees were no longer housed in prison but moved to a dedicated wing in a small prison ‘work out unit’ on Belfast’s Crumlin Road in 2004. In the same year all women prisoners and female immigration detainees were moved from Maghaberry prison to Hydebank Wood Young Offenders’ Centre.