Home Affairs officials facing the inquiry said there were up to 200 people in immigration detention who were refusing to co-operate with moves to deport them, nearly 4500 people on a pathway-to-removal visa in the community and about 250 more people – including those released following the High Court decision in November – who could be affected.
Former immigration department deputy secretaries Abul Rizvi and Peter Hughes warned that black-banning entire nationalities would not persuade their governments to take back citizens who don’t wish to return.