THE REFUGEE CRISIS AS CIVIL LIBERTIES CRISIS

The number of refugees worldwide has expanded dramatically in the first decades of the twenty-first century, with tens of millions of people forced to seek shelter outside their countries of origin. Currently, the most critical form of protection that people in this vulnerable position are guaranteed is the duty of non-refoulement. This duty ensures that countries to which refugees flee cannot return them to places where their lives may be endangered. However, in recent decades, a growing number of states have experimented with policies designed to prevent refugees from accessing their territory and thereby triggering the duty of non-refoulement. As refugee populations have continued to grow, these policies have become increasingly draconian and punitive. This Note identifies and describes a worrying new trend in this area: restrictions on the civil liberties of states' own citizens as a mechanism for deterring refugee arrivals. In particular, the Note examines policies in the United States, Hungary, and Australia to conclude that this trend represents a natural outgrowth of existing refugee deterrence policies and requires an immediate and sustained response from the international community in order to protect the rights of citizens as well as the rights of refugees.