A Melbourne-based family of refugees has been shattered by a negative ASIO security assessment after spending more than a year living in the community.

Sri Lankan woman Ranjini and her two young sons have been taken into Sydney's Villawood Detention Centre and now face indefinite detention in Australia.

They are unable to find out the reasons behind ASIO's decision and have been unable to appeal against it. They have been granted refugee status and cannot be sent back to Sri Lanka.

When Ranjini got married last month, things were looking up. The widowed mother of two had been granted refugee status, released from detention, and had fallen in love with a man who could help care for her sons.

But yesterday Ranjini was called into an interview with immigration officials and asked to bring her sons. She took them out of their school in suburban Melbourne.

They had no inkling they would be flown to Sydney and locked up. There were no goodbyes to friends and family, and no chance to pack a suitcase.

Ranjini's husband, who has decided not to speak publicly, will find it very hard to visit his family because he is forced to remain in Melbourne for work.

Family friend Pam Nielsen says she is saddened by the situation and she is not proud to be an Australian.

"They were looking forward going to school in Melbourne, kicking the footy with my husband in the backyard and knowing that they're in a dark place now is very sad, and it's not right," she said.

"The first thing I remember about the wedding was the two little boys racing out to meet us with wide eyes, smiles, just very eager and very keen, very happy to have a new dad.

"I thought, 'Finally, she is going to have a good life and make a good life for her boys'. So to hear the news from Ganesh last night at 10 o'clock that she had been taken to a Sydney detention camp was very upsetting and yes, I was shocked."

Dire situation

Ranjini and her boys face a bleak future in detention. They and 46 other refugees with negative ASIO assessments are locked up indefinitely with no right of appeal.

Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Coalition said a refugee attempted suicide at a detention facility in Melbourne on Friday morning.

"Kumar is one of the ASIO-negative Tamil refugees. He has been in detention for 35 months," he said.

"He has had a negative ASIO finding for longer than 12 months and this morning he attempted suicide in the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation centre."

In March, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Australia's immigration detention network recommended that refugees like Kumar have a right to appeal ASIO decisions.

The Attorney-General is yet to respond to the recommendation.