SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
Leading sex worker advocacy bodies and human rights organisations have condemned the Federal Government’s newly announced immigration enforcement package, warning that expanded Australian Border Force (ABF)
workplace operations directly undermine state-level health and safety protections for Asian migrant sex workers.
Following Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke’s address outlining measures to curb visa overstayers including hundreds of new compliance officers, hundreds of additional detention beds and expanded compliance operations, advocacy groups warn these policies will lead to aggressive, ICE-style raids.
Despite government assurances that compliance operations will remain targeted, sex worker organisations including the Asian Migrant Sex Worker Advisory Group (AMSWAG), Scarlet Alliance, and Vixen report that ABF compliance actions consistently resort to heavy-handed tactics and systemic racial profiling.
Key Concerns Raised by Advocates:
- Detention Harms: A return to pre-2015 enforcement, where overstayers are held in detention, exposes vulnerable workers, including trans women and non-English speakers, to isolation, harassment, and inadequate medical care.
- Conflict with Sex Work Decriminalisation Frameworks: New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Victoria have decriminalised sex work to ensure labour safety. Federal border operations create an environment of fear that overrides these protections.
- Driving Workers Underground: High-pressure compliance checks prevent migrant workers from accessing healthcare, peer-support networks, or reporting client abuse and wage theft to authorities.
“In a recent Data Access Request, Home Affairs acknowledged conducting 103 raids on sex worker workplaces across Australia in the 2025-26 financial year alone, finding just ten overstayers. The harms caused don’t add up. ICE-style raids are already happening here and need to stop, not be funded to spread.”
JENNA LOVE, INTERIM CEO, SCARLET ALLIANCE
“Government immigration enforcement doesn’t stop overstaying, it creates harm. Asian migrant women are targeted based on their appearance, driven into hiding, and stripped of basic legal protections under the guise of visa compliance.”
ELENA JEFFREYS, ADVOCACY AND POLICY MANAGER, SCARLET ALLIANCE
“State and territory decriminalisation laws were designed to keep sex workers safe. Federal ABF workplace raids destroy that safety framework while undermining Australia’s effort to eliminate violence against all women in its National Plan. If a worker fears immediate deportation or detention, they cannot report violent offenders or seek health services. The raids themselves could be human rights violations.”
AYSHA ZAHARIN, MIGRATION POLICY ANALYST, SCARLET ALLIANCE, & CO-CHAIR OF ASIAN MIGRANT SEX WORKER ADVISORY GROUP (AMSWAG)
Contact
Aysha Zaharin, Migration Policy Analyst
aysha@scarletalliance.org.au | 0452 208 659 | available from 14 Oct
Jenna Love, Interim CEO
jenna@scarletalliance.org.au | 0431 624 415