Australia commits another $168 million to monitoring migrants freed from indefinite detention

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government has committed an additional $168 million in funding for police and other law enforcement officials to monitor 141 people freed after a court ruled indefinite detention of unwanted migrants was unconstitutional. The funding reflects an increase in the workload of law enforcement officials due to government concerns about a community risk posed by the migrants. They are people who had been refused Australian visas, but could not be deported to their homelands and no third country would accept them. The migrants released due to the High Court ruling were mostly people with criminal records. Some failed visa character tests and some were challenging visas refusals through the courts. They include refugees and stateless people.