Detention, deportation, devolution and immigrant incapacitation in the US, post 9/11

Mathew Coleman, Austin Kocher

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

139 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper we examine perhaps the most significant shift in US immigration enforcement since the militarisation of the US-Mexico border in the late 1980s and early 1990s - the now decade-long transformation of immigration enforcement from an outwards-looking power, located at the territorial margins of the state, into also an inwards-looking power focused on resident immigrant everydays. In large measure this shift in the geography of immigration policing is due to an unprecedented devolution of a once exclusively federal power to regulate immigration to non-federal law enforcement agencies operating in non-border spaces in the post-9/11 environment. We argue that the result of this shift in the 'where' of immigration enforcement amounts to a spatialised tactic of immigrant 'incapacitation'.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)228-237
Number of pages10
JournalGeographical Journal
Volume177
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Criminalisation
  • Detention and deportation
  • Immigration control
  • Post 9/11

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Earth-Surface Processes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Detention, deportation, devolution and immigrant incapacitation in the US, post 9/11'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this