Genealogies of Immigration Detention: Migration Control and the Shifting Boundaries Between the ‘Penal’ and the ‘Preventive’ State

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore the ambiguous legal status of immigration detention by discussing the main theoretical perspectives on its nature and the functions it plays in contemporary migration policies. After presenting a typological and genealogical reconstruction of immigration detention, the article contends that it should not be seen as being related either to the politics of ‘exception’ or to the expanding reach of ‘penal’ power in a context of mass migration. Instead, the argument presented here is that immigration detention exhibits the characteristics of preventive measures typically related to the exercise of police powers and that its increased role in migration policies should be read in the wider framework of the shifting boundaries between the ‘penal’ and the ‘preventive’ state in contemporary societies.