Unlawful procedures and acts in the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented foreigners Officers’ failure to verify the status and identity of suspected “illegal foreigners” The Immigration Act and Immigration Regulations provide that an immigration or police officer must assist an individual apprehended on suspicion of being illegally in the country to verify his or her identity or status, including by accessing readily available relevant documents or contacting relatives or others who could prove the individual’s identity and status.86 At Makhado (Louis Trichardt) police station, a police officer described to Human Rights Watch the role of the Department of Home Affairs with respect to illegal immigrants who were detained in the police cells: “We call the Home Affairs Department to come and check illegals’ documents. If Home Affairs finds the documents okay, Home Affairs is the one to release him. Maybe the person doesn’t have his document. Maybe the next day, the friend will bring the passport or document. Home Affairs must be the one to release.”87 Detainees in the Makhado police cell told Human Rights Watch that no officials had visited them. Many had been arrested the previous day, but one detainee had spent 19 days and another over three months in the police cell. A Zimbabwean from Bulawayo who had been working on a farm related how he had not been given an opportunity to retrieve his work permit: “I’ve been working there [on the farm] six years. It’s along the Thohoyandou road. I’m the only Zimbabwean on that farm. After 12 days I get R560 [US$80]. I was arrested yesterday. I have a work permit at work. I asked them this morning to phone my home to ask them to bring the document but they did not. Nobody at home even knows where I am.”88 Another Zimbabwean detainee said his South African wife had taken his ID when she left him: “I was married to a South African, with a child. I am working here since 1999. She left with the ID. I went to Home Affairs. They have fingerprints, etc. but they did nothing. How can I get my ID back?”89 86 Immigration Act, as amended by Immigration Amendment Act, section 41(1) and Immigration Regulations, section 32. Human Rights Watch interview with a police official, Makhado police station, Makhado, April 29, 2006. 88 Human Rights Watch interview with a Zimbabwean detainee awaiting deportation, Makhado police station, Makhado, April 29, 2006. 89 Ibid. 87 23 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOLUME 18. NO. 6(A)