Report on Policy Process

Mandatory Detention Policy 

According to information from the Parliament of Australia website, the policies of Mandatory Detention require the detention of unlawful non-citizens, these include people who can be considered alien to the country and who lack an Australian visa. These policies are specific to the Migration Act of 1958. Although the policy seems to aid Australia in keeping immigrants out, it also leaves many of them neglected for long periods with nowhere to go and this leads to various social and health problems that contravene the rights to life to which everyone is entitled regardless of their citizenship. The policy was introduced in 1992 and has been implemented and maintained by successive governments. It applies to those who breach their terms of visa and those who overstay and it also affects those that seek asylum and that arrive in the country by boat without the authorities’ consent. 

Formation of the Mandatory Detention Policy 

The Mandatory Detention Policy was formed by the Keating Government of 1992 but came into force in 1994 (Australia Refugee Council, 2019). The law was originally meant for interim purposes and uses only. The Howard Government that came into force, later on, was responsible for the strengthening of the laws of Keating Government (Collins, 2019). This was done under the Pacific Policy program which ensured a sharp decline in the number of boats coming into the country carrying illegal migrants. Although the policy of the Pacific Program was outlawed by the Rudd Government, it was later restored by the Gillard Government. This was due to an increase in the arrival of boast and a subsequent increase in the number of deaths at sea. 

According to the Australia Refugee Council, (2019) detention of immigrants is meant to be administrative and not punitive in nature. Chenoweth, (2018) posits that Australis shares similarities with Britain in the sense that it developed various post-war ingenuities that molded the foundation of a prosperity state that was founded on the Keynesian economy.Right since the beginning of the alliance the welfare scheme of the country was based on the domestic unit as the smalled political organization. The creation of the policies was meant to allow for security, health and identity checks to be carried out as a way of mitigating the potential risks such populations bring to the rest of the Australian immigrants. 

An upsurge in the number of refugees entering the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sidney have forced authorities to further stress on the implementation of the rules that purpose to decrease the number of migrants coming into the nation (Collins, 2019). In a ploy to reduce the number of illegal immigrants into the country, the government has come up with laws that aim to overturn the old legislation about the issuance of new visas to require applicants to have various forms of skills (Scott, 2019). Since 1945, more than 7 million people have entered the country as immigrants. A significant number of this population arrived from Asian and other African countries and this attempts to make Australia a multicultural society. 

According to Farrel, (2015), the retrieving of bodies of refuge pursuers en route to Australia from the shores forced the authorities to establish rules and laws that would make it harder for illegal immigrants to venture into the country. The current policy of non-conformity and non-interference practiced by the Australian authorities means that many of the illegal immigrants are left in limbo for long periods (Jocke, 2019). The authorities need to develop mechanisms that help them control the entry of asylum-seeking vehicles over the sea and this will help to manage the numbers of refugees seeking to enter the country. Some of them arrive in poor health conditions and this makes it hard for them to survive the hardship conditions of the offshore islands and other countries like Papua New Guinea that are willing to permanently take them in. 

Detention Policies Effects 

According to Hagen et al., (2019) the term ‘policies’ denotes a deliberate set of principles established and aimed at achieving rational outcomes by guiding ethical decision making. According to Shaver, (2002) the welfare policies reforms in Australia are created to follow a liberal trajectory in which change places emphasis on the duty of every citizen to be self-sustaining as opposed to depending on the government for support. The government of Australia used the evidenced-based system of policy-making aimed at creating and implementing policies based on valid and verifiable research and outcomes. This method is aimed at realizing controlled outcomes an improving performance. 

Michael Hill & Varone, (2016) posit that there is a connection between issues of mental illness and long periods of detention. Immigrants coming into Australia face uncertainty about their future, lack independence or the freedom to decide what happens to them and are concerned about what happens to other members of their families (Schlaggar & Weible, 2013). These people experience various issues of mental health and these include depression, anxiety, engagement in negative strategies of coping like self-harm and problems varying their sentiments. Grave instances of protracted and unlimited custody can cause suicide. 

Schlaggar & Weible, (2013) examines the formation of policies that shape the social welfare of illegal immigrants using four perspectives. Consideration of the above frameworks considers the fact that illegal immigrants are humans who deserve the right to live according to the universal bill of human rights (Taylor-goodby, 2018). Theories and frameworks must be given the needed attention in the process of development and research about the key concepts applied in the implementation. 

Equality, human rights, and social justice must be considered when handling issues of immigrants in Australia. The three traits have been prominent among people calling for social reforms in the country. The concept of social justice is primarily concerned about the allocation of resources based on the requirements of the populace. The concept of communal policy essentially points to the idea concerning what the governments choose to spend money on and what they leave out. The notion of rights lays claims to the legitimacy of the claims of an individual. Claims in the area of welfare can be validated based according to need-based claims, desert-based claims, and capability-based claims (Taylor-goodby, 2018). 

Theoretically, the policy of mandatory detention provides for the detention of new immigrants off the shores of Australia for the sake of obtaining essential information about them. However, this is not always the case because even when children arrive in the country without a visa, they are made to stay in detention beyond the time it takes to gather basic information about them (Section 2, 2019). The normative approach to the formation of policy offers a framework of value to the creators of policy. In doing so, they reflect the cultural, religious, political and ideological perspectives of the policymakers. According to the normative theory, policy decisions are made to reflect the normative view as well as considerations or in other instances the values and norms of the decision-makers. 

Immigrants in the US 

Different from Australia, the United States leads the world with the maximum number of migrants from around the world (Foreign Relations Council, 2018). The country has a comprehensive system that accepts people fleeing from political and religious persecution in their mother countries. The country was the first to take in Europeans displaced by the Second World War. The country has defined the laws of refugee protection under the International Humanitarian Law. Moreover, it accepted refugees fleeing from Asia and Europe during the communist era of political persecutions (Soylu et al., 2018). 

The US passed the first legislation to resettle more than 650,000 Europeans displaced after the Second World War. However, it was not until the year 1980 that the first Refugee Act was passed (UNHCR, 2019). Before the formation of the act, laws and policies were primarily passed on the ad hoc basis in response to the needs at the time. Initially, the number of refugees allowed into the US was below 200,000 whereas the number reduced to below 22,000. In the US the President proposes the annual numerical ceilings for the volume of immigrants to be allowed into the nation and this is subject for approval by Congress (UNHCR, 2019). Similar to Australia the US also have illegal immigrants that show up dead at the coasts of the country. Although some instances of unfair treatment of immigrants from Mexico has brought harsh criticism to the country, given the high number of immigrants arriving into the country, the US forms a formidable model for the ideal way to deal with these populations. 

As opposed to the Policy of Mandatory Detention of Australia, the US screens its refugees through collaboration between the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the US State Department (UNHCR, 2019). They are normally recommended for support centers under the control of the state department. At times this referral can be done by a US consulate abroad or by a selected organization stationed within the host country. Moreover, the Department of State consults with other agencies as well as organizations around the world and hence controls the procedure through USRAP. UNHCR officials carry out the screening process and recommend individuals that qualify to the US State Department for consideration and resettlement. 

Overall, although the policy seems to aid Australia in keeping immigrants out, it also leaves many of them neglected for long periods with nowhere to go and this leads to various social and health problems that contravene the rights to life to which everyone is entitled regardless of their citizenship. Even though the United States does not have the best laws on immigration, Australia can imitate the humane manner in which the country treats illegal immigrants from the point of entry into the country to referral to the necessary authorities. 

References  

Australia Parliament. (2019). Australia Parliament . Retrieved from https://www.aph.gov.au/parliamentary_business/committees/senate/legal_and_constitutional_affairs/completed_inquiries/2004-07/migration/report/c05 

Australia Refugee Council. (2019). Australia Refugee Council . Retrieved from https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/detention-policies/ 

Chenoweth, L. (2018). Redefining Welfare: Australian Social Policy and Practice. Social Work and Policy Review, 1 (2), 123-132.doi. 10.1111/j.1753-1411.2008.00009 

Collins, J. (2019). Six facts that tell a different immigration story than we hear from politicians . Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-21/australian-immigration-what-do-the-numbers-tell-us/10919970 

Farrel, P. (2015). Could Australia's 'stop the boats' policy solve Europe's migrant crisis? Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/22/could-australia-stop-the-boats-policy-solve-europe-migrant-crisis 

Foreign Relations Council. (2018). How Does the U.S. Refugee System Work? Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-does-us-refugee-system-work 

Hagena, L., Kellera, T., Yerden, X., Felipe, L., & Reyes, L. (2019). Open data visualizations and analytics as tools for policy-making. Government Information Quarterly, 25 (1), 101-387. doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2019.06.004 

Jocke, S. (2019). Australia’s government stirs up hysteria about illegal immigration . Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/02/16/australias-government-stirs-up-hysteria-about-illegal-immigration 

Michael Hill, & Varone, F. (2016). The Public Policy Process. Melbourne: Taylor and Francis. 

Schlaggar, E., & Weible, C. (2013). Policy Studies Journal. Policy Studies Journal, 34 (2), 389-399. 

Scott, J. (2019). Australia to Cut Number of Migrants Under New Population Plan . Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-19/australia-to-cut-number-of-migrants-under-new-population-plan 

Section 2. (2019). Theories of Social Policy and the Background of the Welfare State. In S. 2. 

Shaver, S. (2002). Australian Welfare Reform: From Citizenship to Supervision. Social Policy and Administration, 36 (4), 0144-5596. 

Soylu, N., Nyla, Y., Fabian, B., Claudia, G., & Nader, N. (2018). Can they ever be one of us? Perceived cultural malleability of refugees and policy support in host nations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1 (1), 78-90. 

Taylor-goodby, P. (2018). Equality, Rights and Social Justice. 

UNHCR. (2019). Resettlement in the United States . Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/resettlement-in-the-united-states.html