Immigration detention as synecdoche: Detention changes and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum

• In Event: The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum: Why Criminologists Should Care? (II)

Abstract

Border criminology studies frequently depict immigration detention as a system of confinement enforced in closed, relatively opaque facilities geared towards the expeditious deportation of non-citizens. This notion is actually a synecdoche of the diverse forms of containment and the varying roles played by detention practices within immigration enforcement systems. This paper challenges this perspective by considering prominent changes taking place in the detention field across Europe. In this respect, it explores the gradual obsolescence of detention centric models of immigration enforcement, epitomised by the jurisdictions in which alternatives to detention and new sites of reception/containment are superseding the pivotal part formerly played by detention facilities. Specifically, the paper examines the consolidation of the hotspot archipelago in southern Mediterranean, which has
expanded the capacity of the border control apparatus and made it increasingly plastic. Against the backdrop of this changing bordered penality landscape, the paper scrutinises the potential impact of the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which may result in widespread changes in this field in the coming future.

Authors

• David Castro-Liñares, University of Vigo

• José A. Brandariz, University of A Coruna