Critical Criminology, Special Issue Introduction: Critical Engagements with Gender, Race and Class in Crimmigration Controls

In recent years, the escalation of policing, bordering practices, detention, and deportation has become a common phenomenon around the world. There is an expansion of the crimmigration system (Stumpf, 2006), which has increasingly blurred the boundaries between the immigration and criminal justice spheres. Take the example of the UK: there are now over 88 immigration crimes, which are prosecutable via criminal courts. The British Nationality and Borders Act further expanded these crimes by increasing the sanctions for irregular entry and stay. Meanwhile, non-nationals prosecuted for crimes are subject to deportation proceedings, amounting to what the literature terms as “double punishment” (Turnbull and Hasselberg, 2017; Maugendre, 2012). The state has also deployed a punitive drag-net, and various third parties including landlords, welfare services, employers, and healthcare providers can now report those deemed as ‘illegal’ migrants to the authorities (Bhatia, 2020). Beyond the UK, the processes and practices contributing to the criminalisation of migration and the punitive turn in the confinement of minorities (in prisons, detentions, and community) have intensified in both the Global North and South (Rosina, 2022; FRA, 2014; Bhatia, 2021; Franko, 2019). It is enough to think of the crime of migration, which is today a crucial element in all but two EU member states (FRA 2014), and of the increasing discourse portraying migrants as criminals or as a “hybrid” threat that allows for the circumvention of humanitarian obligations. What are the reasons behind such pushes for criminalisation, and what are their implications? How do people manage, respond to, and counter these practices? How does migrant criminalisation intersect with gender, sexuality, race, class, and caste? These are the questions at the core of this special issue, which aims to expand the discussion on the criminalisation of migration, through a set of intersectional and interdisciplinary analyses.