No-Fly Lists, National Security and Race: The Experiences of Canadian Muslims

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of no-fly lists in countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, their impact has not been explored in academic research. In a bid to fill this gap, we conducted 70 in-depth interviews with Muslim community leaders to explore Canadian Muslims’ experience of the no-fly list. We find the Canadian no-fly list targets Muslim communities, restricts mobility, separates individuals from family and friends, diminishes professional and economic opportunities, and stigmatizes those labelled a security risk. Drawing on the preventive security literature and critical race studies of counter-terrorism, this research demonstrates how no-fly lists erode fundamental aspects of justice, and reproduce racial hierarchies.

Passport to neoliberal normality? A critical exploration of COVID-19 vaccine passports.

“…Nonetheless, it would also be rather naïve to suggest that this current national rolling back reflects a brief blip in vaccine passport's longue durée. Many of the emergency measures enacted after other crises such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks eventually became permanent and normalised features of society (Lyon, 2022;Nagra and Maurutto, 2020;Zuboff, 2019). As the digital infrastructure remains robust and adaptable (Lyon, 2022), it is not unforeseeable that governments could roll some form of health passport out again.…”

“…Crises throughout neoliberalism have often been utilised to further the social, economic, and political interests of powerful actors in society (Harvey, 2007;Sumonja, 2021;Telford, 2022;Žižek, 2018), particularly under states of emergency which often results in the expansion of surveillance mechanisms (Zuboff, 2019). This was clear after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA, where technology companies presented various solutions to monitor 'suspect populations' in the name of increased security, involving an unprecedented expansion of state and corporate surveillant powers (Nagra and Maurutto, 2020;Zuboff, 2019). Such measures involved new information communication technology systems, linked databases including facial recognition software and digital profiles as well as a range of technological security procedures in airports including tighter border controls (Levi and Wall, 2004).…”

“…Such measures involved new information communication technology systems, linked databases including facial recognition software and digital profiles as well as a range of technological security procedures in airports including tighter border controls (Levi and Wall, 2004). This was enacted under the ideological banner of preserving freedom, civil liberties and the West's cherished way of life, even if they paradoxically undermined both the rule of law and the liberties that they purported to protect (Nagra and Maurutto, 2020;Zuboff, 2019). In fact, such logic has been utilised by Sahakian et.…”

Why Physical Barriers Backfire: How Immigration Enforcement Deters Return and Increases Asylum Applications

“…Selective immigration enforcement may include activities such as preventing people with violent criminal histories from immigrating. Since 9/11, no-fly lists that contain names of national security risks who are forbidden to board airplanes have emerged as an important form of selective immigration enforcement (Nagra & Maurutto, 2020).…”

The Power of Racialized Discretion in Policing Migration

“…In England and Wales, nationality acts as a proxy for race through programs such as Nexus, whereby mostly visible, racial minorities are asked to confirm their British nationality or right to remain in the UK as it is assumed that they do not legitimately belong to the country (Parmar 2018a). Recourse to immigration enforcement is often opportunistic and forms a web of invisible policing in Australia (Boon-Kuo 2019), and global surveillance tactics are multilayered, ensnaring racial minorities through visa checks and no-fly lists (Bowling and Westenra 2018;Nagra and Maurutto 2019). Police officers who apply discretion can feel powerful, 'good' or as though they are challenging a system that does not make sense, particularly when officers recognise that the suspect may have tried to comply with the law.…”