Further than “crimmigration”: Criminological cares about the changing detention landscape after the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum

• In Event: The New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and Immigration Enforcement Changes in Europe (I)

Abstract

Although the debate on "crimmigration" “has opened an important avenue for understanding the progressive use of penal power and coercive measures over populations of migrants and non citizens” (Κ. F. Aas, 2019), however the pertinence of this term has been questioned, assuming, on the one hand, that this may result in oversimplifications and hide from view the different institutions involved in immigration governance and, on the other hand, that is needed more empirically grounded analysis in order to point out the different ways in which develop the dynamics of immigration law enforcement practices. Taking these criticisms into account we will attempt to analyze the impact of the new European “Pact on Migration and Asylum” on the criminalization of migration, considering that its provisions often surpass the mandatory limits prescribed by the relevant national, international and European legal sources. Our working hypothesis is not only dealing with the significant challenges that these new arrangements raise regarding the decoupling of the criminalization process from the legal-political safeguards of human rights and rule of law premises; moreover, we aim to embed these regulations within the recent redesign of the general economy of the ever expanding european social control.

Author

• George Nikolopoulos, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences