Health in immigration detention: evidence brief for policy and practice

Overview

Immigration detention poses significant risks to health and well-being, yet its use is increasing globally. Migrants, asylum seekers and other noncitizens in immigration detention experience harmful social and environmental conditions in detention facilities, leading to negative health outcomes. Universal human rights standards and recommendations provided in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration require states to ensure detention to be a measure of last resort only, and never for children, but evidence shows these principles are not consistently upheld. This brief for policy and practice reviews global evidence on health impacts of immigration detention, identifying key challenges and gaps.  It calls for stronger safeguards, improved living conditions, timely health screening and care, supporting evidence-informed policies that uphold the right to health for all.