Facts
The complainant, a national from Cameroon (possibly also from Afghanistan), was apprehended in Basel on January 19, 2018 and initially detained for a short period. On January 21, 2018, he filed an asylum application, whereupon the Migration Office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt placed him in preparatory detention until April 19, 2018. The single judge for coercive measures in foreign national law at the Court of Appeal of the Canton of Basel-Stadt confirmed the detention on January 22, 2018 for six weeks until March 1, 2018.
On January 26, 2018, the Migration Office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt ordered Dublin detention for the preparation and implementation of the transfer procedure ("preparatory detention" within the framework of the Dublin procedure) for seven weeks until March 8, 2018. The single judge confirmed this detention at the request of the complainant on January 31, 2018 for six weeks until March 8, 2018.
On February 22, 2018, the State Secretariat for Migration decided not to consider the complainant's asylum application and to transfer him to the responsible Dublin member state Spain. On March 2, 2018, the Migration Office of the Canton of Basel-Stadt replaced the Dublin preparatory detention with Dublin detention to ensure the transfer procedure ("deportation detention" within the framework of the Dublin procedure) for six weeks until April 13, 2018. On March 8, 2018, the complainant was transferred to Spain.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court examined whether the order and confirmation of the Dublin preparatory detention were lawful. It concluded that the grounds for detention under Art. 76a(2)(f) of the Foreign Nationals Act were met, as the complainant had been illegally in Switzerland for six months before his apprehension and had only filed an asylum application after his arrest to prevent his impending removal.
The Federal Supreme Court further stated that the detention to…