Legitimising detention and deportation of illegalised migrant families: reconstructing public controversies in Belgium and the Netherlands

Abstract

In Belgium and the Netherlands, the detention and deportation of illegalised migrant families with underage children has recently caused public controversy, resulting in the eruption of antideportation protests. This controversy is rooted in the unresolved tension for liberal states to protect children's rights on the one hand, while limiting 'unwanted migration' on the other. Previous literature documents protest reactions to efforts to deport families with underage children, as well as general state tactics to legitimize such coercion. This paper instead centres the state's legitimation work in response to societal protest and draws on publicly available material on two recent controversies: the Belgian debate on family detention and the determination of the child pardon in the Netherlands. For Belgium we highlight that the government frames detention as the 'ultimate measure', used only when less restrictive measures 'failed'. For the Netherlands we show how the government reallocates political responsibility from elected officials to bureaucrats. Both strategies transform what is essentially a moral-political debate into a web of administrative procedures and discussions on legal conditions. The Belgian and Dutch governments thus invisibilize moral conflict by drawing it outside the realm of democratic politics, to the backstage of bureaucratic administration.

“We have nothing to hide”: Legitimacy narratives, researcher positionality and the ethics of accessing the Dutch deportation apparatus

“…It draws a sharp line between deportation and “voluntary departure,” arguing that caseworkers do everything they can to avoid the former and accomplish the latter (see also Cleton & Chauvin, 2020). Other caseworkers voiced similar feelings of having been misunderstood in public debates on the planned deportation of illegalised immigrant families (for more elaboration, see Wittock et al, 2021). One caseworker whom I met online in 2020, for example, told me that they became frustrated by the, according to them, incorrect and incomplete depiction of such cases in the media.…”

“…Indeed, as these stories narrate the diligence and compassion of procedures leading up to deportation, their implicit message is that forced deportation is eventually a realistic and justified measure to take (see Wittock et al, 2021 for a similar dynamic in Belgium). This includes the idea that it is necessary, according to the organisation, to be “hard on the message in case clients do not cooperate or a possibility for deportation arises.”15 This narrative was, unsurprisingly, strongest for illegalised immigrants with a criminal record, who were often portrayed as unwelcome and a potential danger to Dutch society, making it necessary for caseworkers to try their best to enforce deportation 16 .…”

“…While the exercise of coercion within deportation bureaucracies is legislatively and legally sanctioned, these bureaucracies always remain susceptible to backlash and opposition, especially in open, human rights‐respecting liberal democracies (Borrelli, 2021; Ellermann, 2009). This means that states must actively put legitimacy claims forward to reaffirm their authority (Ugelvik, 2016; Vega, 2018; Wittock et al, 2021). Ellermann (2006) proposes three different strategies that bureaucrats can resort to in response to public outcry over strict migration control enforcement: pre‐empt, contain or resolve political conflict.…”

Assessing Adequate Homes and Proper Parenthood: How Gendered and Racialized Family Norms Legitimize the Deportation of Unaccompanied Minors in Belgium and the Netherlands

“…This article centers on deportation procedures for unaccompanied minors in two European countries: Belgium and the Netherlands. These cases were selected based on the recent attention to and controversy around the exclusion of illegalized migrant children (see Wittock et al 2021), making them salient to investigate how such moments of conflict and contestation are negotiated by policy actors. Both countries are signatories of the European Return Directive but apply its procedural safeguards differently in their national policy frameworks.…”

“…The forced deportation of illegalized migrant children 1 has been subject to intense contestation in several European liberal states over the past two decades (Rosenberger 2018), at a time when deportation has simultaneously become a normalized technique of state power. This has been the case in the Netherlands and Belgium, highlighted by various societal protests that challenged the detention and deportation of migrant children (Wittock et al 2021). One of these recent protests in the Netherlands aimed to prevent the prospective removal of siblings Lili and Howick.…”