Practices by Stakeholder 3

Separation of immigration enforcement from public services

Separation of immigration enforcement activities from access to assistance, services, administrative, judicial, and complaint mechanisms, and rights protection more generally removes barriers that inhibit access to assistance in the context of crises, particularly by those in an irregular immigration status. Measures that can be adopted include:

• Memorandums of understanding between government departments to ensure that reporting labor violations does not lead to repercussions from immigration enforcement;
• Legal provisions mandating access to education regardless of immigration status;Outreach to migrant children and their families, regardless of immigration status, to enroll children in school, provide a sense of normalcy post-crisis, and mitigate the heightened risk of violence and exploitation for children in emergencies;
• Legal provisions mandating access to urgent or essential health services and preventive care services, regardless of immigration status;
• Prohibitions on enquiring about immigration status in the context of access to services.

Migrants and detention

Migrants who are detained in the host State rely on authorities for their basic needs. Without adequate contingency planning, detainees, including migrant detainees may be at heightened risk of being denied basic necessities, such as food, water, and medicine during crises when attention is focused elsewhere. They also risk deteriorating conditions or treatment within the detention environment, including human rights abuses, which may go unnoticed by authorities during times of crisis. Actions host States can take include:

• Limiting the reliance upon detention as a border management tool, especially for immigration status offenses, such as irregular entry or stay; 
• Taking steps to prevent the arbitrary detention of migrants;
• Facilitating access for legal counsel and advocates to migrants in detention;
• The adoption of laws and policies that prohibit or provide alternatives to the use of immigration-related detention for migrants in particularly vulnerable situations, such as children and families, pregnant and lactating women, victims of abuse, or migrants with medical and mental health needs;
• Proactively adopting alternatives to detention that allow migrants to remain in noncustodial, community-based contexts while their immigration status is being resolved;
• Enabling regular monitoring of facilities where migrants are detained by appropriate authorities as well as independent monitoring bodies;
• Requiring both public and privately managed migrant detention facilities to develop contingency plans for ensuring protection of migrants during crises, including evacuation when needed.