We Asked a Migrant Detainee Why He's Boycotting His Chance at Freedom

Photo via Flickr user marineperez.
VICE recently reported that in Ontario this June, over 100 people detained on immigration hold decided to boycott their detention reviews, a standard administrative process that determines whether detention should continue.

By boycotting a detention review, you forgo the opportunity to be released from immigration detention that month. VICE managed to speak with Robert (last name withheld), who boycotted his review on June 26. He spoke to us hours afterwards about why.

Robert came to Canada on a work visa after getting shot in his home country. His voice came through the phone lines clear and strong despite the background noise in Central East Correctional Centre, a maximum security prison in Lindsay, Ontario, an hour an half away from Toronto. He had 20 minutes to speak before the phone went dead.  VICE: Why did you decide to boycott your detention review this month?
Robert: Because, [long sigh], what’s really happening with the detention review and the immigration—they have so much power. They do what they want, they say what they want, they look at you and lie in your face and there’s nothing you can do about it.

I’ve been here [in detention] for three years. I have kids here. They tell me if I cooperate and they don’t get my travel documents by six months, they’re going to give me the bail program. It’s been eight months now and the bail program looks like it’s not happening. They’re just keeping me in jail, just like that. I just keep going back [to the detention review every] 30 days and no results. It’s been eight months now since I’ve been cooperating.

Why did you and the others on immigration hold decide to stage a month-long boycott?
The reason why we decided to do a boycott, some people [have been] here ten years, some guys here [are] at five years, four years… I’m on immigration for three years now. They just keep you as long as they can keep you until you either get deported or stay in jail and rot. There’s no other alternative. I think they’re breaking the law in some way because there’s no way you can just keep somebody in jail eight months after they agree, if you can get them deported, deport them, but you still just have them in jail because you can’t get the travel documents. [When] I was out on the outside, I was working, I have my G2, I was doing good, I’d never been in trouble and then I had a summary offense and I’m in jail for three years. It’s crazy.

Do you have a lawyer?
The problem is I can’t get ahold of the lawyer… I really want to talk to her, it’s so important right now, but I can’t get ahold of her. You hardly see a lawyer face-to-face because they bring us all the way up here in Lindsay, so most of the time it’s phone. And these lawyers, they maybe answer one or two calls, cause everytime you call it’s $20. I haven’t talked to my family in five months because it’s so expensive.

What did you boycotting your detention review look like?
A boycott, basically, I [don’t] go to the hearing and they just send a service ticket and tell you when your next hearing is. They don’t really care. Nothing really happens when you go to these hearings… It’s just people making money and not really caring. Honestly, they treat us like dogs in here. Anybody that’s an immigrant, that’s from a foreign country, they treat them like dogs. They don’t care about us.

Are you with others on immigration hold?
No, right now I’m with criminals. They should have a better facility for immigration people. They don’t have nowhere to hold us… I’m not facing no charges or nothing, and I’m sitting with criminals. People with gun charges, violent charges, murder—I’m with them. And I’m on immigration.

Were some people afraid to boycott their detention review?
People were afraid because they use every single little thing against you. If you don’t go to your detention review, they say you’re not cooperating.

Why did you feel the boycott of your detention review was going to be worth it?
We boycott the detention review so that people outside could hear our voice. But I guess, when we do that, it’s not even coming in the paper. The federal government tries to keep everything on the quiet with what’s going on with people here because what they’re doing… I don’t think they have the right to hold people this long on immigration. Especially having them with criminals.

Do you have any message for people outside like family?
I just want to let the people out there know there are kids that are suffering because some people are here… They have a life; they have kids here. This immigration system… they don’t care about people close to you. They don’t care. They just do what they’re doing and that’s it.  @ek_hudson