The gender gap in Spain's deportation apparatus

Abstract

The personal experience of crossing a border differs according to gender. Specifically, the selectivity of immigration controls means that deportation affects many more men than women. Based on the analysis of official data on the detention of people in irregular situations, detention in migrant detention centres (CIE in its Spanish acronym) and repatriations, disaggregated by sex, this paper provides some theoretical reflections on why a gender gap exists in the deportation apparatus in Spain. Taking up the feminist criminology research agenda's challenge, it seeks to contribute to the development of "criminology of mobility" with an analysis of migration control in Spain from a gender perspective.