ASIO leaves asylum seeker arrivals in detention limbo

UP to 150 asylum-seekers are in a state of security limbo because ASIO is unable to decide whether they pose threats to the community.
Burmese minority left to languish
The 120-150 boatpeople, many of whom are Sri Lankan or Burmese Rohingyas, have been "parked" by ASIO, leaving some in detention for more than 12 months.

The security logjam is contributing to serious overcrowding inside Australia's detention centres.

Senior Immigration officials are privately conceding Australia will be stuck with a detainee population in the hundreds for years to come, irrespective of whether either side of politics can stop the boats.

The Rudd government's freeze on Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum claims, soaring refugee refusal rates and a failure by ASIO to swiftly clear cases are badly clogging the system.

All told, there are more than 3800 boatpeople in Australian detention centres.



Migration agent Libby Hogarth acts for about 60 Tamil asylum-seekers who arrived on two boats in July last year. "They're just sitting up in Villawood or Christmas Island having been told that they're found to be refugees but they're waiting for security," she said yesterday.

Rohingyas, a Muslim minority group persecuted in Burma, are proving problematic for security assessors.

According to the Immigration Department, 103 Rohingyas have arrived since September, only two of whom have been granted visas.

The president of the Burmese Rohingya community in Australia, Kyaw Maung Shamsul Islam, said security checks were the obstacle.

"(The lawyer) told me (it was) because they have been to many places once they left Burma; they went to Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia - four countries," he told The Australian. "The security clearances take time."

ASIO declined to comment.

However, ASIO director-general David Irvine has acknowledged the burden refugee security checks had placed on the agency.

"We've had to rationalise our activities in other areas," Mr Irvine told a Senate committee in May.

"There has been a drop in the number of security assessments completed in other areas."

ASIO had to perform about 2028 security checks for boatpeople in the six months to March 31. That compared with just 21 checks in 2007-08.

Exacerbating the overcrowding is a review process that lawyers say is failing to cope with the massive volume of new cases.
Read the full story>>>