Curaçao court rules against automatic detention of illegal immigrants

The Court of Justice of Curaçao has struck down the long-standing policy of automatically detaining migrants who enter the island illegally, NOS reports. The court ruled that detention cannot follow automatically from illegal entry and requires a case-by-case assessment of less restrictive alternatives such as reporting obligations.

The ruling challenges years of practice under which all undocumented migrants arriving by boat were routinely placed in detention at the barracks of the SDKK prison in Willemstad. According to the court, this blanket detention policy violates both international treaties and Curaçao’s own guidelines, which state detention should only be used when less severe measures prove insufficient.

The case involved two Venezuelan men who arrived by boat in late December 2023 and were immediately detained. The Minister of Justice justified their detention solely based on illegal entry without assessing their personal circumstances or the possibility of alternative supervision. The court found this practice unlawful.

Human rights organizations have hailed the ruling as a major legal breakthrough affirming that human rights protections apply at the external borders of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Amnesty International criticized Curaçao’s detention policy in reports from 2018 and 2021, highlighting systematic detention of undocumented Venezuelans without individual assessment or access to asylum procedures. Amnesty described detention conditions as inhumane.

Human Rights Defense Curaçao (HRDC), supported by lawyer Alicia Blonk, brought the case against the government. Blonk emphasized that alternatives to detention exist: “A first night in immigration detention may be necessary for identification. But afterward, authorities must explore whether the person can stay elsewhere, such as with family. A reporting obligation would then suffice.”

The lack of an independent registration center on Curaçao, similar to Ter Apel in the Netherlands, allegedly forces authorities to default to detention in prison barracks, where migrants face conditions nearly identical to those of criminal inmates despite not being convicted.

The court ruling is especially notable because local judges had historically accepted government detention policies, provided deportation procedures were actively pursued. International human rights treaties were rarely decisive in prior rulings.

This decision has immediate consequences for Curaçao’s immigration policy. The government must now justify detention on an individual basis, proving that no lighter alternative is adequate. This will reportedly require greater resources and coordination in the politically sensitive migration field.