Refuge Lost

Debate in Europe over what is often called a refugee crisis has pointed to Australia's tough border regime as a template worth imitating. Yet several of its central tools, including indefinite mandatory detention, interception and return of boats at sea, and processing asylum claims outside the national territory, first appeared in the United States well before Australia took them up. This study follows how these practices travelled between the two countries and how courts in each have responded to them.

Drawing on several disciplines, the author argues that a policy which appears to succeed in one nation may fail in another, because legal systems, politics and circumstances differ. The work is aimed at anyone concerned with keeping asylum protection intact at a time of political instability at home and abroad.