[Editorial] Immigration detention centers are like prisons

Nine foreign nationals died and 18 were seriously injured when a fire broke out at the detention quarters of the Yeosu immigration office over the weekend. Part of the reason for the tragedy is that foreigner detention centers are operated like prisons. This many people wouldn’t have died if they hadn’t been behind jail bars. It is an international shame that foreigners died when the government had them under its "protection" (boho, part of the Korean term for "detention center"). It is a most basic obligation to return people to their countries safely, even if they were found to be in the country illegally.

This tragedy is a serious issue that could turn into a diplomatic problem. The government needs to apologize to the victims, their families, and their countries, and make sure there are not long-term complaints about compensation. Then it must make major improvements on detention facilities so that nothing like this ever happens again.

The fundamental plan, however, has to be about forcing a complete change in the conduct of immigration authorities and in how undocumented foreigners are kept under detention. Put simply, Korea needs to get rid of the idea that foreigners who lack legal status for staying in the country are criminals. The National Human Rights Commission said as much last year in a formal report, which noted that some violations of immigration law can be treated as criminal violations and others are violations of the regulations, and noted that someone who violates his visa status is not a criminal. It says that putting someone in a detention facility needs to be seen not as removing a criminal from society but as "securing his person ahead of deportation."

Looking at the way illegal residents are caught and detained, though, you can see that the authorities are not making this distinction. Just take the case of Yeosu as an example. They say the environment there was like a prison, complete with steel bars. The human rights commission has found numerous cases of rights violations. Most of the complaints have been about these facilities and are from prisoners that were never informed of their rights. A full 68 percent of detainees say they have had handcuffs put on them. Only 20 percent have been told they have the right to an attorney, access to consular officials, and the ability to file complaints if their rights have been violated.

If the government truly wants to apologize to the deceased foreigners, it needs to eradicate violations of foreigners’ rights by changing the way it pursues illegal residents and how it operates detention facilities.

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