Strangers at the gates

This comparative study is designed to examine a number of national responses to providing a regulatory system with the capacity and efficiency to deal with the number of foreign non-residents seeking entry into the country and ensuring that the regulatory system meets fundamental standards of procedural justice as required by national and international law. The study examines in particular the procedures followed in removing persons who enter a country without proper documentation and seek to remain permanently. The countries examined are: France, Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Australia, USA and Canada. The first section of the study considers the sources of entitlements to procedural justice. Special attention is given to the roles of constitutional and national laws in establishing procedural rights for the foreign non-resident. The following section examines primary adjudication for illegal entrants. The decisional authority is considered in terms of exclusion, removal and security. Attention is also given to the procedure of the decisional authority as well as evidence. A separate section deals with primary adjudication for refugee claimants. Once again decisional authority is discussed, this time in terms of determining refugee status and procedure and representation. The last section concerns various recourses available against decisions and the availabilty of a residual discretion which may be used to preclude enforcement.