Perez v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1342

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Perez v Minister for Immigration & Multicultural Affairs [1999] FCA 1342 MIGRATION - Deportation - application for review of decision of Administrative Appeals Tribunal to deport applicant to Cuba – potential practical difficulties in effecting a deportation order – relevance of long administrative detention to validity and merits of decision to deport

Migration Act 1958 (Cth), s 200, 201, 253 International Covenant in Civil and Political Rights 1976, Art 9 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, Art 9 Chu Kheng Lim v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1992) 176 CLR 1, applied Wentworth v NSW Bar Association (1992) 176 CLR 239, applied Luu v Renevier (1989) 91 ALR 39, cited Prasad v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs 1985) 6 FCR 155, cited GEORGE HECTOR PEREZ v MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS N 21 of 1999 MADGWICK J 24 SEPTEMBER 1999 SYDNEY

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY N 21 OF 1999

BETWEEN: GEORGE HECTOR PEREZ

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: MADGWICK J

DATE OF ORDER: 24 SEPTEMBER 1999

WHERE MADE: SYDNEY

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1. The application is dismissed.

2. The applicant is to pay the respondent's costs.

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY N 21 OF 1999

BETWEEN: GEORGE HECTOR PEREZ

Applicant

AND: MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION & MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Respondent

JUDGE: MADGWICK J

DATE: 24 SEPTEMBER 1999

PLACE: SYDNEY

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT HIS HONOUR: 1 This is, as Dr Chappell said in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a "sad and tragic" case. Factual Background 2 The facts of this matter were set out in some detail in the Tribunal's reasons, and the following summary has been paraphrased from them. A "Marielito" becomes a refugee in Australia 3 The applicant, Mr Perez, was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1958. At the age of seventeen or eighteen he was jailed for approximately four years for fighting. Soon after being released from prison, in 1980, the applicant was told that due to his criminal record he would be deported. In April 1980 Fidel Castro announced that all those who wished to leave Cuba would be permitted to do so, and in May the applicant, along with tens of thousands of fellow Cubans, departed the port of Mariel for the United States, in what became known as the