The Wire

The Green and Democrats have renewed their call for an end to immigration detention following revelations that a Vietnamese refugee was wrongfully detained for five years and lost access to his son. It was revealed last night that Tony Tran was held by the immigration department because they thought his bridging visa had expired. It hadn’t, and it’s now claimed his imprisonment was unlawful. In that time, his young son was placed in foster care and Tony was powerless to influence any decisions made about him. Whilst in detention, Tony was also seriously assulted by another detainee. Many thought the immigration department had been “cleaned up” after the 2005 Palmer Inquiry into previous immigration bungles.