Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Governmigration (Governing irregular immigration through detention: discourses and practices from an interdisciplinary approach)
Reporting period: 2020-12-01 to 2021-11-30
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.
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.
On the one hand, the project aimed at gaining a profound knowledge of the main transformations of immigration detention systems in Canada and Spain. For this purpose, an extensive review of statistics, public policies, policy documents, reports and scientific literature has been carried out. This has been supplemented by a deep involvement in the field through the connection with a wide network of experts, scholars, public institutions, lawyers, advocates, NGOs, activists and ex-detainees. Finally, the participation and organization of workshops, conferences, public talks and seminars and the involvement in the work of civil society organizations have contributed to the comprehensive exploration of both case studies.
On the other hand, the project sought to better understand the post-detention period. In the case of Canada, this involved paying particular attention to the novel programme of alternatives to detention. For the Spanish case, the attention was paid to the diversity of centres and services for the attention of migrants and asylum seekers after release and, more broadly, to the economic sectors where undocumented migrants end up working in precarious conditions. The fieldwork has been based on the use of qualitative methodologies to collect testimonies, experiences and expert knowledge from different actors, such as public authorities, community-based organizations, NGOs and civil society organizations supporting migrants and asylum claimants, advocates, lawyers and those subjected to alternatives to detention and living without legal status.
The results achieved so far have been shared with the academic community and the society as a whole through public talks and seminars in academic and civil society environments and the presentation of results in international conferences. Finally, the project has begun to create a network of international researchers in the field in order to collaborate and discuss new advances in this area.
On the other hand, the project sought to better understand the post-detention period. In the case of Canada, this involved paying particular attention to the novel programme of alternatives to detention. For the Spanish case, the attention was paid to the diversity of centres and services for the attention of migrants and asylum seekers after release and, more broadly, to the economic sectors where undocumented migrants end up working in precarious conditions. The fieldwork has been based on the use of qualitative methodologies to collect testimonies, experiences and expert knowledge from different actors, such as public authorities, community-based organizations, NGOs and civil society organizations supporting migrants and asylum claimants, advocates, lawyers and those subjected to alternatives to detention and living without legal status.
The results achieved so far have been shared with the academic community and the society as a whole through public talks and seminars in academic and civil society environments and the presentation of results in international conferences. Finally, the project has begun to create a network of international researchers in the field in order to collaborate and discuss new advances in this area.
By including in the analysis two very distinctive systems of immigration detention, with specificities due to the different historical and socio-political backgrounds, as well as their geopolitical position and the membership to supranational organizations, the project is contributing to expand the understanding of different immigration detention systems. For doing that, Governmigration has analyzed the emerging set of mechanisms and tools used in the pre-detention and post-detention period, i.e. formal programs, such as the alternatives to detention in Canada, but also novel facilities and infrastructures, such as new forms of detention and containment in operation in Spain. Furthermore, the project has also explored the ways in which economic structural factors intersect with systems of detention and the resulting impacts. Through that, the project is offering a wider view of the way in which irregular migration is governed in different societies through the use of different components of their immigration detention regimes. Moreover, the project is contributing to critically explore the impact of new measures in the daily life of those subjected to them, but also in the governance of irregular migration more broadly. The project is showing the complexities and paradoxes of the practices implemented to detain, control and supervise irregular migrants and is offering new insights for a better understanding of the impact of immigration detention regimes on migrants and asylum seekers as well as on the society as a whole. The project also revealed the increasing intersections of punitive and humanitarian logics and how they shape immigration detention and containment practices in different jurisdictions. The final impact of the project is to offer a significant contribution to the debate on current mechanisms of border control and regimes of mobility and to assist in seeking fair and human rights-based mechanisms to respond to international mobility.