COVID-19 IMPACTS ON IMMIGRATION DETENTION: GLOBAL RESPONSES A NOTE ON THIS REPORT We commenced discussions about a joint edited collection in August, inspired by the success of HADRI’s State Responses to COVID-19: a Global Snapshot at 1 June 2020. Our initial conversations focused on a perceived gap in understanding how States and Civil Society had responded to those at risk of immigration detention and those in immigration detention during the COVID-19 pandemic. IDC and HADRI were keen to showcase what actions or policies different actors had taken towards refugee, undocumented migrant and stateless communities; whether these actions or policies led to any increase or reduction in the use of immigration detention; and what has been the impact on different groups typically at risk of, or in immigration detention. The enthusiastic response we received from contributors was most encouraging. Despite their own busy workloads, including in many cases directly responding to people in immigration detention or living in countries where the pandemic was still at a critical stage, authors committed to be part of this edited collection which came with a very tight timeframe. We want to thank them for their willingness to take on this additional work and for responding to our requests for clarification or correction. As we have learnt, in many cases legal terms and processes do not necessarily translate from one context to another. Eager to include creative pieces we are grateful to Christina Fialho, Co-Founder/Executive Director, Freedom for Immigrants for linking us to Anthony Miranda whose artwork features on our report cover. When approached for permission to use his work, Anthony replied: Honestly I’m amazed that an organization wants to use my drawings! What can I say it would be nice to write a short story of my life!! I spent 5 years in detention center fighting for my right to stay in the US and they still deported me to “my” state! A State I never knew. And now I am forced to live on the other side away from my family! But you know what nothing stops me! Right now I am living in a tent I gave up the hot showers the cozy bed the warm food all that to follow a dream, a dream that I had in mind since I was detained. I’m building my own home with the help of my family but I am building everything by myself and I know I can do it. Because besides being an immigrant I am a person with dreams and goals and I never stop fighting. idcoalition.org | westernsydney.edu.au/hadri We continue to be inspired by the stories behind the statistics that counter the increasing media rhetoric about refugee, undocumented migrant and stateless communities and hope this edited collection can challenge commonly held perceptions about the ‘need’ for immigration detention. We would like to also thank the entire IDC team for their support in facilitating this edited collection and HADRI Director Associate Professor Nichole Georgeou for her guidance and advice on how to bring such an ambitious project to fruition. The editors appreciate the funding support provided by the School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University. In preparing this edited collection we undertook to proofread all submissions but due to the timeframes we did not check every hyperlink and reference, nor did we edit referencing styles for consistency. We apologise in advance for any errors and note that in the fast- changing world of immigration policy, the articles are accurate up to 15 September 2020. The diverse range of views in this report are the views and opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the IDC. VIVIENNE CHEW International Detention Coalition MELISSA PHILLIPS HADRI/Western Sydney University Regional Advisor, International Detention Coalition MIN JEE YAMADA PARK International Detention Coalition 7