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

Ziel

Western countries have significant concerns about the increasing number of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers crossing international borders. The European Agenda for Migration includes a set of priorities that address this complex and nuanced problem. Core values of European societies, such as solidarity and human rights, are being tested by irregular migration pressure and the related difficulties of immigration detention. The escalating number of detainees released into host communities instead of being deported has raised new questions about how this population is being managed. This project uses two case studies: Spain and Canada to analyze how the governance of irregular migrants and asylum seekers occurs in two complementary ways. First, at the level of discourse, this research will assess how irregular migration has been represented in the political process by focusing on how immigration detention has emerged as a response to this issue. Second, the project will examine the impact of detention in those released and supervised in the community. This study will also focus on how different actors participant in the governance of migrants and how gender, race and nationality influence this process. Theoretically, this research builds on the governmentality and border control scholarship. Policy analysis and interviews are the primary methods of data collection. This study builds on existing scholarship and will provide a comprehensive and comparative analysis of irregular immigration and detention that can inform various types of immigration policy. The research project will be structured to ensure the applicant receives a high quality and comprehensive training program that includes academic milestones and the management, communication and dissemination competences. This study project is built on the collaboration of several institutions and academics to guarantee the international relevance of the project and the academic excellence of the researcher.