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Northern Territory criminal lawyer Lyma Nguyen, who's representing Russell, likened her dealings with the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) to "extracting blood out of a stone." Over past months, they've been reluctant to provide requested information, have yet to assign anyone to preside over the case, and have refused to provide any time frame. "I've been appalled at the way the department has handled this particular case and I'm sure this is not the first or the only case that it's handling in this way," she told VICE.Nguyen outlined that the amendments broaden the kind of criminal activity captured under the character grounds of the Migration Act, as it's easier for minor offenses to accumulate. "The punitive effect is that people end up being detained in administrative detention, deprived of their liberty, and separated from their family, for the original offense they committed, which they've already served a sentence in prison for."In 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Committee condemned Australia's practice of deporting non-citizens as a violation of international law. This was in relation to the 2006 deportation of Stefan Nystrom, who'd arrived in the country three weeks after being born and was deported to Sweden at the age of 33. Nystrom had a checkered past, having served numerous terms in Australian prisons. When his visa was canceled, a non-citizen's accumulated sentences had to add up to two or more years to warrant deportation."People end up being detained in administrative detention, deprived of their liberty, and separated from their family." —Lyma Nguyen
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