COVID-19 IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION DETENTION: GLOBAL RESPONSES SINGAPORE’S MIXED RESPONSE TO COVID-19: MIGRANT WORKERS SIDELINED INTRODUCTION Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been mixed. Initially seen as one of the better examples of managing the pandemic early on with efficiency and decisiveness, that reputation has now been marred with her handling of the country’s migrant population. Once deemed the “gold standard of near-perfect detection” by Harvard epidemiologists1, initial praise for the country’s efforts at containing the virus have unfortunately not reached all sectors of society in an equal way. This paper will be structured in a way that focuses on the country’s social security responses, including any changes in policies and regulations around enforcement and immigration detention during the pandemic. Given the predominance of the migrant worker issue in Singapore, the rest of this paper will heavily focus on the state’s response, to the handling of the pandemic among the migrant worker population. IMMIGRATION AND POLICY RESPONSES Immigration policy has also not fundamentally altered in light of the pandemic, but measures have been taken for travellers who are authorised to travel to Singapore under current conditions. All travellers entering Singapore, which includes citizens, permanent residents, and long-term pass holders, are required to quarantine in governmentdesignated facilities or in their homes (depending on whether they are entering from a select list of approved countries). Singapore citizens and permanent residents returning home will have their costs of staying in these government-designated facilities covered by the government, given that they departed Singapore before 27 March 2020, the date on which the country issued a travel advisory to not leave. If found guilty of an immigration-related offence, offenders are expected to remain in Singapore for the duration of the investigation, and serve prison time if relevant to the offence, and would be required to purchase their own ticket home at the end of the investigation. Work permit holders make up approximately 1 million out of nearly 6 million people in the country, however, more than half of the people who contracted COVID-19 have been work permit holders in Singapore. However, there have not been any changes to immigration detention policy, or none have been publicly communicated by the government to date. The policy in Singapore remains that people who are liable on immigration-related offences can be detained in any police station, immigration depot, prison, or any other place that has been appointed for such a purpose by the Controller of Immigration. 2 On the issue of refugee-related detention, Singapore is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. 3 There is also no domestic legislation for the protection of refugees or asylum seekers. Those guilty of immigration-related offenses such as still being in Singapore irregularly are usually overstayers, such as those who legally entered the country on a tourist or work visa and stayed after that expired. Overstayers can 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 be imprisoned, and male overstayers aged under 50 found guilty of this offence may also be caned4. Work permit holders are usually not eligible for citizenship, and maximum terms for employment are commonly clearly laid out. These policies have not changed during this pandemic. It is rare that those seeking asylum have been able to enter Singapore legally except on a tourist visa and would be found guilty of overstaying, and Singapore has not accepted those seeking asylum through boat arrivals (such boats have not been allowed to enter Singapore territorial waters). Such cases, even though possible, have not been reported. In the Singapore prison system, no cases have been reported thus far, and this can be credited to the government undertaking several measures to ensure the virus does not spread in prisons. All inmates have had to undergo daily temperature checks, and safe distancing measures have been put in place. Those who may be feeling unwell are given masks to wear and immediately separated from the rest of the inmates and monitored. Newly admitted inmates are also housed separately and monitored for the first 14 days. 5 PANDEMIC RESPONSES TO MIGRANT WORKERS Migrant workers and Singapore’s treatment of them during the COVID-19 pandemic now appears to dominate discussion on the country’s handling of the pandemic. Singapore has 43 migrant worker dormitories that house an approximate 280,000 male work permit holders.6 Employing companies, often construction companies, pay for their workers to be housed in these privately-owned and run dormitories. A majority of work permit holders who have contracted COVID-19 did so in these dormitories. The dormitories have long been criticised for being substandard and overcrowded, with less than sanitary conditions. Several civil society organisations, especially those working closely with migrant workers, had previously warned of the potential for infection or disease to spread in these dormitories. In late March 2020, Transient Workers Count Too, a migrant rights group in Singapore, warned that the “risk of a new cluster among this group remains undeniable”7 While the government did take preventative steps to curb the possible spread of the virus in the dormitories by closing communal spaces and staggering meal times and recreation hours, it has been criticised for not being enough. This is especially because the bunk-bed dormitory rooms can sleep up to 20 people (several other reports say 12 people), and maintaining any social distancing would be impossible. 8 The government also announced other measures to contain any outbreak in dormitories, such as gazetting and locking down the S11 and Westlite Toh Guan dormitories, which house 19,000 workers among them.9 This locking down was extended to all dormitories in April 2020, separating infected clusters with those not infected, and moving out the approximately 7,000 workers who worked in essential services. They were moved to alternative accommodation such as vacant apartments, floating hotels or military camps. Officers https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54082861 https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/covid-19-immigration-detention-platform https://www.unhcr.org/protection/basic/3b73b0d63/states-parties-1951-convention-its-1967-protocol.html Caning is a form of corporal punishment in Singapore that is still used in conjunction with a prison sentence for certain crimes as laid out in legislation, including certain immigration-related offences https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/crime-fighting-covid-19-precautions-prisons-police-station-court-12658234 https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/factory-converted-dormitories-fcd-migrant-workers-isolation-12802428 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54082861 https://www.ft.com/content/0fdb770a-a57a-11ea-92e2-cbd9b7e28ee6 https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/worker-dorms-thinned-out-fewer-blocks-gazetted-as-isolation-areas idcoalition.org | westernsydney.edu.au/hadri 45