Criminalisation, race, and citizenship in UK border control

ABSTRACT

In this article, I draw on ongoing qualitative research on immigration detention and deportation in the UK, to explore the contribution of criminology to debates over citizenship. I pay particular attention to the interdependence of the state and the private sector in enforcing border control, examining how public-private collaboration both legitimates but also depends on a shifting, racialised criminalisation of foreigners. In so doing, I show how the criminal justice system has been put to work in defining and restricting the membership of the community of value within the UK.

KEYWORDS:

• Border criminology
• immigration detention
• deportation
• criminalisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).