Causing a Stir: Unwanted Aliens and the Cauldron of Crimmigration Controls Post-NZYQ

Abstract

This article explains how the momentous High Court decision in NZYQ v Minister for Immigration (2023) 280 CLR 137 (‘NZYQ’), that triggered the release into the community of around 350 ‘unlawful non-citizens’ for whom removal from Australia was impracticable, prompted a succession of innovative and controversial legislative responses amidst political concerns about effective migration management and community safety. The article tracks and carefully critiques political and legislative responses to NZYQ, and other subsequent High Court decisions in ASF17 v Commonwealth (2024) 98 ALJR 782 and YBFZ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs (2024) 99 ALJR 1, to demonstrate that crimmigration law, policy and practice is, more than ever, deeply and problematically entrenched in Australia. The article uncovers precisely who the unwanted aliens – the targets of crimmigration – are, why political uproar ensued following the NZYQ ruling, and how criminal and immigration law have been stitched together in novel ways to form a unique crimmigration control regime in Australia.