The European Union (EU) and its Member States (MS) are heavily reliant on Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC) to enforce their migration policies. PMSCs, for example, are involved in the management of offshore detention centres and in the implementation of forced returns. In this blogpost, I show that the absence of legally binding international […]

Migration policies sometimes have visible effects . The optics of border pushbacks and the ‘scene of exclusion’ receive support from anti-immigration political factions and criticism from civil society and the legal community. Conversely, the ‘scene of rescue’ at national borders provoke broad public attention and humanitarian compassion, while inciting outrage among those resistant to migration. […]

When arriving in Senegal’s main airport in Dakar, travellers have their fingerprints taken digitally and stored in an entry and exit tracking system. At the same time, the country’s navy carries out joint sea patrols to detect irregular migrants alongside Spanish police. Further north, Mauritania is building new border posts as part of a border […]