For three days last week, I watched a steady stream of immigration cases pass through KwaDukuza Magistrate’s Court A.

But one stayed with me.

An Ethiopian man seeking refugee status told the court he had fled political instability in his home country and approached Refugee Social Services in Durban in January.

He said he was denied access pending a status interview at the Durban Refugee Reception Office, administered by the Department of Home Affairs. After being sent from pillar to post between the two offices, he eventually secured a High Court date in August in an attempt to obtain an interview and have his refugee status determined.

He never made it that far.

While waiting for his court date, he was arrested for allegedly contravening the Immigration Act. He remains in custody, caught in a bureaucratic catch-22 while apparently trying to navigate the legal process.

His was just one of numerous immigration matters I encountered while spending three painfully long days in court for a bail application in the Club Med case.

One after another, Malawians, Mozambicans, Ethiopians and Zimbabweans, recently arrested, stepped in and out of the dock.

They were being held at a reported cost to the state of R365 per person per day. Some required translators, adding to the bill.

And it made me wonder: how did we get here?

This is not an argument for or against migrants. Nor is it an argument that immigration laws should not be enforced.

It is about the enormous burden created when border control, immigration administration and law enforcement fail to work effectively together.

Some of those detained had jobs and supported themselves before their arrests. Now taxpayers reportedly spend R365 a day – R11 315 over 31 days – keeping each of them in custody. For perspective, the Social Relief of Distress grant is R370 a month.

There is a wider cost too.

Already under-resourced police must arrest undocumented migrants, verify their status and respond when anti-immigration groups and foreign nationals clash. Detectives and prosecutors must process those cases while also dealing with murder, rape, aggravated robbery, fraud and corruption.

All of that consumes resources.

After decades of porous borders and an immigration system seemingly unable to keep pace, we are now trying to deal with the consequences through police cells and courtrooms.

A prosecutor I spoke to believes the problem may already be too entrenched to reverse. Perhaps she is right.

But I keep returning to that Ethiopian man.

Whatever the merits of his refugee application, he says he tried to enter the system, spent months navigating it and secured a High Court date, only to end up behind bars before he could get there.

If that account is correct, it illustrates the absurdity of where we have arrived: spending scarce State resources detaining people while another arm of the State struggles to determine whether they have a legal right to remain here.

Better border control matters. So does a functional immigration system. Without both, everyone pays the price.