The Political Economy of Immigration Detention: Globalization, National Diversity, and Economic Actors

Governments across the world have increasingly relied on the detention of immigrants as a means to control the movement of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers. But detention is fraught with numerous social problems and gross injustices. Not only do states often ignore their international human rights obligations during detention operations and devote massive public finances to detention operations, there are also grievous repercussions on people's well-being, families, and communities. A chorus of immigrant-rights activists, lawyers, and public intellectuals has risen to contest the unjust detention of non-violent people and have demanded that basic human rights of immigrants and their families be respected. Such efforts face bureaucratic inertia, moneyed interests, and entrenched racism. This panel outlines the key issues, challenges, and limited successes in changing immigration detention practices throughout the world.