Move over Ashcroft

Arguably, the story of the month in Australia is the case of Vivian Alvarez. Alvarez was deported from Australia to the Philippines (her country of birth) in 2001. This by itself, is nothing new - Australia is pretty good at sending people packing. However, Alvarez is an Australian citizen, mother of two, and at the time of her deportation, had been living in Australia for 18 years. Left disabled by a car accident, Alvarez was detained by immigration officials and subsequently deported due to her inability to produce a passport (signs of physical and metal disabilities were not considered too carefully). One of her children was forced into foster care. At the time, a missing persons report had been filed by a relative, but this was overlooked by immigration officials.

The mistake was discovered in 2003, but little action was taken until 2004, when Interpol was brought in to investigate. Alvarez was located earlier this month at a hospice center for the elderly and dying in the Philippines where she's spent the past four years in almost complete anonymity. Her brother in Australia thought she'd disappeared and died. She's now indicated she wants to return to Australia, and lawyers are coming out of the woodwork to get a piece of the monetary compensation from the Australian government that is almost certain to follow.

An additional 33 Australians have been wrongfully detained over the past two years.