National Assembly passes Immigration Amendment Bill

CAPE TOWN - Eight years since the first of two Constitutional Court rulings in respect of the detention of illegal foreign nationals, the National Assembly has passed the Immigration Amendment Bill.

It aims to ensure fairer arrest and detention treatment, especially for women and children.

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the bill will lead to a raft of new regulations he plans to introduce for swifter deportation.

The bill requires that someone detained under the Immigration Act appear before a court within 48 hours and not be held for more than 30 days.

The Constitutional Court gave Parliament 24 months, which expired in 2019, to rectify the Immigration Act, following judgments in favour of Lawyers for Human Rights.

Schreiber said the new standards inthe bill give greater predictability to the deportation process.

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"In addition to upholding the rights of the detained, the introduction of this heightened level of objectivity makes it much harder for any immigration officer to arbitrarily release detainees before they are deported."

Schreiber said the new law should limit endless challenges to deportations.

"In time, this will make for a stronger immigration enforcement system that reduces legal claims against the department while enhancing our ability to carry out legally compliant deportations more effectively."

He said this bill will be followed by a draft white paper on citizenship, immigration and refugee protection for public comment.

But Schreiber was slammed by the MK Party for being forced by a courtto deal with immigration matters, with MP Mariam Muhammad saying many of the problems were due to the inefficiencies of the home affairs department.

ActionSA, meanwhile, also rejected the bill calling for an urgent review of the white paper on migration.

The Immigration Amendment Bill has now been sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.