Immigrants waited outside Home Affairs in Pretoria for days for permits. (Madeleine Cronjé)
Lawyers for Human Rights has been flooded with calls for help mostly from immigrants who have been detained and cannot afford legal representation. The organization launched an immigration detention hotline about a month ago.
The head of penal reform at the organisation, Nabeelah Mia, said they deal with an average of around 35 calls a day. The hotline was started after observing that immigration officers and police were increasingly detaining immigrants without following the correct procedures under the Immigration Act.
He said another problem was the restrictive immigration policies and practices of the home affairs department, including the rejection of asylum seekers’ applications and the cancellation of the Zimbabwe Exemption Permit (ZEP).
“This has increased the number of immigrants detained or at risk of detention. Therefore, the hotline was created in response to this. It is also a way to speed up access to legal assistance and advice for people in difficult situations,” said Mia.
The organization has employees who screen all calls and provide direct legal advice when possible. For complaints beyond her capabilities, Mia said people are directed to other organizations in the inmate monitoring network.
“We also encourage lawyers who want to be part of our referral network to contact us,” he added.
In cases where immigrants have been arrested or detained due to issues related to their document status, Mia said the goal is to have them released as soon as possible.
“However, we have had a considerable number of requests for assistance from people who are not in custody but have questions related to documentation.”
Mia said the offices are on foot in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Musina seeing hundreds of people every week who are desperate for help.
They said the hotline is free. There is also a WhatsApp message number. The initiative is part of a collaboration between Human Rights Lawyers and the Scalabrini Center Cape Town.
Immigration detention toll free number is 0800079614 or WhatsApp or message to +27817168791.
This story was first published by GroundUp.