Monday October 24, 2005

Red tape replaces confetti for couple in visa fight

An American woman has been told by the Immigration Department to leave her Australian husband and home in Melbourne or be deported within weeks. more

Thursday October 20, 2005

Indonesian deported, despite plea

An Indonesian journalist whose 70-year-old mother is gravely ill has been deported in the face of pleas from the federal Health Minister that he be allowed to stay. more

SIEV X mourners remember the nameless dead

A Melbourne Islamic leader has challenged the Australian Navy to explain why it didn't go to the rescue of the SIEV X. more

Saturday October 15, 2005

Pacific solution 'a success' as Nauru camp empties

Prime Minister John Howard has declared offshore detention an "outstanding success". more

Friday October 14, 2005

Howard claims Nauru an 'outstanding success'

The Nauru detention facility will be retained, despite almost all its detainees being flown to Australia. more

Praise for 'end of Pacific Solution'

Immigration Minister announces all but two asylum seekers who still detained on Nauru will be brought to Australia. more

Detainees to cast off from Nauru

Four years in offshore detention is about to end for almost all the remaining asylum seekers on Nauru, after Amanda Vanstone decided yesterday to bring them to Australia. more

Monday October 10, 2005

Woomera detainees caught three years after escape

Two asylum seekers who escaped during a mass breakout in 2002 have been recaptured. more

Saturday October 8, 2005

Hundreds 'detained illegally'

A day after the Immigration Department was lambasted over the illegal removal of Vivian Alvarez Solon, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has revealed another person may have been wrongfully detained. more

Ailing Alvarez Solon awaits a promise

Four months of daily therapy have not eased the pain for Vivian Alvarez Solon, whose body still aches, though her mind is stronger. more

Friday October 7, 2005

PM stands by Vanstone

John Howard backs Immigration Minister over report into Vivian Alvarez Solon's deportation. more

Found by a drain... and the bungles began

Discipline findings against three Immigration Department officers over the wrongful deportation of Vivian Alvarez Solon strengthen her claim for compensation, says lawyer George Newhouse. more

'It is a shameful episode'

Amanda Vanstone defiant as the handling of the Vivian Alvarez Solon case is branded "catastrophic". more

A victim, plenty of villains, and a lone hero

AT 11.47pm on March 30, 2001, an ambulance was called to a park in the northern NSW town of Lismore where Vivian Alvarez Solon, suffering from head injuries, was sitting beside a large open concrete drain. more

Thursday October 6, 2005

Vanstone 'unlikely' to issue Bakhtiyari visa

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone holds out little hope of the teenage sons of Australia's highest profile asylum seekers, the Bakhtiyari family, getting back into the country on study visas. more

Immigration official resigns over Alvarez

Damning report into the deportation of Vivian Alvarez finds critical failures within the immigration department. more

Labor demands Vanstone's head over Alvarez

Pressure mounts on Immigration Minister as an official resigns over wrongful deportation. more

Felon fights deportation to Sweden

Amanda Vanstone used "the barest of technicalities" to try to deport a 31-year-old man to Sweden when he had lived all but four weeks of his life in Australia, according to a Federal Court decision. more

Bakhtiyari boys say sorry over bitter battle

The Bakhtiyaris have disowned the tactics of their supporters and apologised to the Federal Government for the bitterness of the battle. more

Thursday September 29, 2005

Australia lures migrants in London

Amit Sinha has never been to Australia and knows no one there, but still says he can't wait to migrate. A love of Australian cricket in part explains the passion of the former member of India's junior cricket team. more

Immigration 'no' to reopening Bakhtiyari case

The Immigration Department has ruled out reopening the Bakhtiyari family case despite Afghan officials confirming that Roqia Bakhtiyari was an Afghan citizen. more

Wednesday September 28, 2005

Vanstone defends Bakhtiyari decision

Immigration Minister says proper process was followed in the case of an Afghan family deported to Pakistan. more

'No basis' for reopening Bakhtiyari case

Immigration department says it 'did not err' in deporting family, despite confirmation the mother is Afghan. more

From detention to church leader

Jason Kioa made a bargain with God when he was thrown in the Maribyrnong detention centre in 1983: if he got out, he would serve the church the rest of his life. more

Friday September 23, 2005

Welcoming hand awaits refugees

When Achol Aluier, 24, arrived in Australia with her four-year-old daughter Akuc, they knew no one. Two years on she speaks English and has settled in Deer Park. more

Thursday September 22, 2005

Experts sent to evaluate Nauru detainees

Concern about the mental health of the last 27 asylum seekers in the offshore processing centre on Nauru has prompted the Howard Government to send three experts to the Pacific island. more

Tuesday September 20, 2005

Vanstone plays down self-harm

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone accuses some asylum seekers of resorting to "a very unattractive type of protest" simply to draw attention to themselves. more

Monday September 19, 2005

Multi-million-dollar upgrade for Baxter

The federal government will spend millions to make the controversial Baxter detention centre "friendlier". more

Vanstone disputes self-harm figures

Immigration Minister says her department's figures on self-harm among immigration detainees should be put in perspective. more

Wednesday September 14, 2005

Opera singing refugee insists 'I had to flee'

A Serbian asylum seeker says she fled her homeland using false documents to escape persecution. more

Department under fire over travel documents

Government officials have been accused of issuing travel documents in false identities for a Serbian couple in its bid to deport them. more

Tuesday September 13, 2005

Inquiry lashes department over envoy's asylum bid

A Senate inquiry into the handling of former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin's bid for political asylum has recommended the Immigration Department take immediate steps to ensure its officers understand their confidentiality obligations. more

Wednesday September 7, 2005

Alvarez lawyer detects official 'change of heart'

The lawyer for wrongfully-deported Australian Vivian Alvarez has condemned federal authorities for not interviewing officers involved in her deportation. more

Tuesday September 6, 2005

Botched deportation costs thousands

Immigration Department defied a UN request not to deport an asylum seeker, only to fly him back again. more

Monday September 5, 2005

Vanstone stonewalling, says lawyer

Immigration officers involved in the Vivian Alvarez Solon case are not allowed to give evidence at a Senate inquiry. more

Sunday September 4, 2005

Dramatic plunge in number of detainees

The numbers in Australia's immigration detention system have declined dramatically in the past few months, as a result of intense political pressure and extensive policy changes. more

Friday September 2, 2005

Immigration staff faces sack over Alvarez case

Immigrating officers may face the sack after an inquiry by the Commonwealth Ombudsman criticised the actions of some staff over the wrongful deportation of Australian citizen Vivian Alvarez Solon. more

Thursday September 1, 2005

Nauru can hold asylum seekers, High Court rules

The High Court has upheld the main thrust of the Pacific Solution, ruling that Nauru may detain asylum seekers on Australia's behalf. more

Thursday August 25, 2005

GP blames death on visa dispute

Two days after a 79-year-old woman visiting from Lebanon died of a heart attack — which her doctor blames on the Immigration Department — her grieving family received a letter from the department ordering her to leave the country. more

Excess force used to quell detainees

Police and detention centre staff used excessive force in removing detainees after the 2003 Port Hedland riots, a Government-commissioned investigation has found. more