Border politics, the “hostile environment” for’ migration, and education in the UK

Abstract

In the age of globalization, states exercise their sovereignty through the control of their physical and material borders. The perceived “migration crisis” of recent years has driven states in the Global North such as the UK, to increasingly fortify their borders, with policies fueled by popular anti-immigration rhetoric and panics around high levels of inward migration. This article documents and examines the power technologies and regimes of immigration practice known as the “hostile environment” as a field of conflict and struggle. The paper draws on Theresa May’s speech as then Home Secretary outlining the “hostile environment,” and news reports and commentaries detailing the enactment of these policy technologies. Of particular interest is the positioning of education within “hostile environment” regimes of practices, where we find the school weaponized for border control purposes. The paper concludes with considering what we as educators should be doing to counteract hostile forces against migrants and migration, so as to create more critical and compassionate individuals.