The Expanding Global Detention System as a Pillar of Externalized Enforcement: How We Reached this Point, a Normative Human Rights Framework, and Pushing Back Against Extremist Policies

Join us on Wednesday, September 16th at 12pm Eastern Time.

About This Dialogue

This Ignatian Migration Dialogue (IMD) marks the first in a series on migrant detention. Like other IMDs, it seeks to promote understanding of the causes, consequences, and humane solutions to pressing issues in international migration. Join JRS/USA Senior Ignatian Fellow Don Kerwin; JRS Head of Global Advocacy Dr. Angelo Pittaluga; Michael Flynn, Executive Director of the Global Detention Project; and Dr. Izabella J. Majcher, consultant and author, for a discussion on the global migrant detention system.

This IMD will:

• Explain the growth and transformation of the global and U.S. migrant detention systems over many decades.
• Evaluate migrant detention policies and practices from an international human rights framework.
• Explore how international processes and systems can be enlisted to advocate on behalf of detainees and for reformed policies in the United States and elsewhere.

As with all Ignatian Migration Dialogues, this webinar seeks to promote partnerships and engagement on pressing international migration needs.

Moderator, Donald Kerwin, JRS/USA 

Guest Speakers

Dr. Angelo Pittaluga holds a PhD in Law from the University of Genoa, Italy, with a focus on human rights and migration law. A lawyer with experience in international humanitarian work, he has served as the Regional Coordinator for East Africa at Caritas Italiana, worked in the Protection Unit at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and was the Country Director for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Kenya. He is currently the Head of Global Advocacy at JRS, overseeing initiatives focused on refugee rights and policy reform. His work bridges legal expertise and humanitarian practice, advocating for the rights of displaced persons in international settings. 

Michael Flynn is the Executive Director of the Global Detention Project. His publications include: Health in Immigration Detention: Evidence Brief for Policy and Practice (World Health Organisation 2026, with Sanja Milivojevic); Immigration Detention in the European Union: In the Shadow of the “Crisis” (Springer 2020, with Izabella Majcher and Mariette Grange); and Challenging Immigration Detention: Academics, Activists, and Policymakers (Edward Elgar 2017, with Matthew Flynn). Flynn previously worked as a project director at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.; as a project coordinator for the Programme for the Study of Global Migration at the Graduate Institute in Geneva; and as an associate editor of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in Chicago. His research has been supported by the Swiss Network for International Studies, the Geneva International Academic Network, the Pew International Journalism Program, and the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Flynn holds a BA in Philosophy from DePaul University and a PhD in International Studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Dr. Izabella J. Majcher specializes in international refugee and human rights law, with a particular focus on European Union migration and asylum policies. Her work bridges research, advocacy and practice. She holds a PhD in international law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, has experience in human rights advocacy before the United Nations and the European Union, and serves as a forced-return monitor for the Swiss National Preventive Mechanism. She consults for a range of international and non-governmental organizations. 

Why Attend?

Gain a deeper understanding of global migrant detention systems, examine detention policies through an international human rights lens, and explore opportunities to advocate for more humane policies and practices.