Governmigration · Governing irregular immigration through detention: discourses and practices from an interdisciplinary approach

Governing irregular immigration through detention: discourses and practices from an interdisciplinary approach

The use of immigration detention has gained importance globally as a measure to manage irregular migration. In the EU, the Return Directive refers to immigration detention only when other sufficient and less coercive measures cannot be applied and to prepare the return and/or enforce a removal order. Surprisingly, despite this regulation, in Europe only around 50% of people in detention are finally deported. The rest are released into the community, normally remaining undocumented and subjected to formal or informal mechanisms of control and supervision and a very precarious (or inexistent) access to social, economic and health rights and services. Moreover, immigration detention is considered a non-punitive measure. However, research and reports have shown extremely hard confinement conditions and frequent violations of human rights, including asylum rights, inside the growing diversity of detention centres that currently exist. Along with this, scholars in the field have argued for a broader understanding of punitiveness that includes coercive measures of border control and detention of migrants and asylum seekers. In spite of this evidence, instead of reducing the scope and the capacity of immigration detention systems, western governments are materially and geographically expanding their detentions systems by formally and informally incorporating new tools and practices before the moment of detention and after release in the community. Against this backdrop, the project analyses the mutating and expansive nature of immigration detention systems by considering two case studies: Spain and Canada. The very different cultural, economic and migration trajectories of both countries offer a great space for comparison. The long history of immigration policies in Canada and the main tools and practices undertaken to tackle irregular migration differ widely from the Spanish case. Spain did not receive significant international migration flows until the early 1990s, but its entrance in the European Union, among other aspects, entailed a significant change in public policies and practices. Both case studies illuminate the understanding of immigration detention regimes in different contexts and in multiple perspectives. Through the use of documentary review and qualitative methodologies, the main goal of this project is to better understand how irregular migration is governed in different jurisdictions through immigration detention systems. The specific objectives of Governmigration are twofold: - Exploring the evolution of the main components of the immigration detention systems in Canada and Spain to understand the mutations and new mechanisms that result in the expansion of these systems. In this realm, the project maps the different actors and institutions involved as well as the main innovations implemented, such as new types of infrastructures of detention (Spain) and new measures, i.e. alternatives to detention (Canada). - Analysing the impact of immigration detention after release, particularly focused on the strategies to formally and informally control and supervise irregular migrants in the community and the responses of undocumented migrants to this. In this regard, the project explores the impact of these measures in the daily life of immigrants and asylum seekers from an intersectional approach, and it also assesses how these measures affect their possibilities of integration into the community.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union