看看這種故事，就會覺得自己是多麽的幸運。 (圖)

IN A damaging bungle by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, a former refugee who lived in Australia for many years was wrongfully locked up in immigration detention for over five years, while immigration officials tried to deport his five-year-old son.

Tony Tran, 35, was taken into detention in December 1999 after the department believed it had notified him that his Bridging Visa A had been cancelled years before.

While detained, he was bashed by another detainee and suffers continuing health problems.

But the ABC\'s Lateline program revealed last night that Mr Tran had not received the letter warning him about his status - an apparent breach of the procedure necessary before taking a person into detention.

Mr Tran had been in Australia for seven years when he applied for a spousal visa for his South Korean wife in December 1999. He was led away into detention in the belief that he was an unlawful non-citizen. I didn\'t expect to get locked up like that, so I never got to say goodbye and I never got to kiss my son, he told the program.

His wife returned to South Korea while he was in detention, but later returned to Australia and abandoned their son.

The boy, then five, lived in state care while the Department of Immigration and Citizenship unsuccessfully tried to arrange for him to be deported into the care of the South Korean state.

Mr Tran\'s son\'s name was altered to a Korean name to facilitate his entry into South Korea, without Mr Tran\'s consent. He only found out his wife and son had gone to Korea from an immigration agent, after they had left. His son ended up in foster care in Australia.

More than two years after his release, Mr Tran is still waiting for an apology from the Federal Government for the decision that destroyed his family, and is pursuing a compensation case in the Victorian Supreme Court.

The department was unable to comment on Mr Tran\'s case, and directed queries to the Immigration Minister, Kevin Andrews. Mr Andrews could not be reached last night.

Mr Tran, who was born in Vietnam but grew up in the United States as a refugee, was shifted between four detention centres between 1999 and his release in 2005. Mr Tran, who is reunited with his son, remains stateless.