After detention reform, migrants still face locked doors and long waits

At the National Human Rights Commission of Korea headquarters in Seoul, a former detainee at Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center recalled the day he was taken into custody.

“Immigration officers stormed into my company cafeteria, stopped our meal, threw away our food, handcuffed all the undocumented workers and took us by bus to the detention center,” he said during a press conference Tuesday.

The testimony added to rights groups’ broader criticism that Korea’s immigration detention system rem ...