The Politics of undocumented migrant childhoods: agency, rights, vulnerability

Firewalls as a resource for resistance: separating border policing from social service provision in Sweden and the UK

“…They are a concrete practice that changes people's experiences of borders and have a tangible effect in people's everyday lives since they are a profoundly spatial experience. Even though they are constantly negotiated and fluid we do not see the same potential problems with firewalls as is the case with human rights narratives that more easily can be co-opted by actors who mobilize human rights logics and practices for border control (Lind 2020b). However, we welcome future research to consider what risks could be involved in promoting firewalls.…”

“…Earlier research on the relationship between social work and migration control shows a tension between the social work commitment to rights provision and bordering practices (Yuval-Davis, Wemyss, and Cassidy 2017; Misje 2019) derived from immigration legislation (Farmer 2017;Jolly 2018a). In the context of irregular migration, rights become paradoxical and contradictory as the state's interest in controlling migration is balanced against its commitments to migrants' rights (see Honig 2009;Lind 2020b). Previous research has shown how the social relations that are produced in relation to illegality are characterized by contradictory processes of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion, which then enable specific kinds of exploitations of people with precarious migration status (Balibar 2014;De Genova 2013).…”

“…The border police in Southern Sweden have continued to test the limits of firewalls. In August 2017, 30 police officers entered a summer camp at a scenic hostel in a national park, organized by the Church of Sweden, and arrested five families (Lind 2020b). This stirred up a debate about whether the church should be considered a sanctuary for undocumented migrants and if there are any 'free-zones' where undocumented migrants are protected from the border police.…”

Introduction to special issue: Bordering practices in the social service sector – experiences from Norway and Sweden

“…A number of incidents suggest that social service providers -including both civil society-and public organizations -have become targets for, and sometimes active participants in, attempts to monitor and police asylum-seekers and other migrant categories. Examples range from a decision of the Swedish Border Police to raid a summer camp for undocumented migrant children (see Lind 2020); via requirements placed on municipal social services to provide the Border Police with the home addresses of irregular migrants (see Hermansson et al 2020); to formalized collaborations between national migration authorities and civil society organizations (CSOs) aiming at motivating, for instance, Moroccan street children to 'voluntarily' return to their country of origin (Holmlund 2020). These developments raise questions about the complex relationship(s) between social service provision and bordering practices.…”