The Securitization of Immigration and Integration Governance

Abstract

The immigration and counterterrorism policies implemented after 9/11 have had severe consequences for specific groups identified as “security threats” by the general public. These policies have collectively produced what has become known as the “securitization of immigration governance.” It is a process through which Western political elites (such as governments, leading political parties, and associated policy networks), public opinion, and the media construct immigration as a security threat. Typical aspects of securitization measures include the introduction of restrictive border controls intended to fight terrorism, accompanied by those intended to curb illegal migration flows and to police minorities. The security-immigration nexus is therefore apparent, visible in the ways in which politicians and bureaucrats view policies on the integration of migrants and of ethnic minorities as a means to counter threats. This nexus is further consolidated by negative stereotypes propagated by the mass media and official public discourse that, in turn, fuels concerns about the willingness of immigrants to integrate into their host societies. Furthermore, the securitization process has given legitimacy to a range of narrative frameworks that, as Sarah Scuzzarello noted, “have strong normative implications for how we conceive of a society, its citizens and the values that are honorable in it” (2011: 4).

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