In response to the humanitarian crisis of 2015, Sweden introduced ‘temporary’ bordercontrols. The increasingly permanent controls warrant critical assessment and raise urgentquestions: How is border security exercised in practice? What is the relationship betweenintent and practices on the ground? Which logics drive the border control? This studyexplores these questions through in-depth interviews with border guards andethnographic field observations conducted at Hyllie station. Applying Foucault’s conceptof biopolitics and Walters’ image of the border-as-firewall, the study critically probes thepractices of border security and the logics that underpin it. The study argues that theSwedish border control acts as a (biopolitical) firewall. Yet, this conceptual frameworkalone cannot account for the multiple logics, rationalities, and objectives that intersectand drive the project of border control. The analysis suggests that biopolitics framessecurity as a rather monolithic, omnipotent performance of overarching state objectives.In reality, the exercise of border control is assembled ad hoc, constrained by the limits ofavailable resources of the Swedish police and mediated by the agency of individual borderguards. Finally, the study reflects on the exclusionary logic embedded in the practices ofborder control and stakes out paths for future research.

In this thesis I have conducted a critical discourse analysis of foureditorial texts, published in the newspapers Aftonbladet, DagensNyheter, Expressen and Svenska Dagbladet. Drawing on theoriesabout media discourses (Fairclough 1995), agenda-setting(McCombs & Shaw 1972) and framing (Goffman 1974), I haveexamined how the findings of Bolin et al (2016) correlate with discursivelyframed representations in these texts, in regards to negative,positive or neutral framing of border controls, immigrationand the connection made to political parties during the first weekof January 2016, when the Swedish temporary border controlswere introduced.The results showed both consistencies and inconsistencies in regardsto framing, where the liberal newspapers Dagens Nyheterand Expressen’s editorials were less negative towards the bordercontrols and expressed more negative and stereotypical framingson refugees and migration than expected, whereas the independentsocial democratic Aftonbladet expressed the assumed negativeframing on border controls and the Social Democrates, and positiveframing on migration. The most unexpected findings wasSvenska Dagbladet that contrary to the previous findings in Bolinet al’s study framed migration positively and took the most explicitstand against the border controls. The findings may indicate a politicaland cultural change due to the change in directions in theSocial Democrats migration politics.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand how Danish and Swedish news media and governments framed “the refugee crisis” in the context of the Swedish implementation of border controls in 2015 and the removal of external border controls in 2017. We operationalize framing theory (Entman 1993) to understand the differences and similarities in the framing of "the refugee crisis” in Denmark and Sweden. While the main focus is media representations, policy documents are included in the study to deepen the analysis and understand the similarities and differences across migration policies. Through a quantitative content analysis of 259 newspaper articles from eight Danish and Swedish newspapers, a framing analysis of ten policy documents and a qualitative framing analysis of the overall frames in the news articles and policy documents, we identified a dialectic relation of power between media and political discourse in both countries. We found that issues defined and represented in policy documents tend to reflect the challenges that news media define and the other way around. Even though Danish and Swedish newspapers and policy documents highlight similar problems, our data indicates clear differences in migration policies, in the two countries, in terms of the framing of asylum seekers, refugees and political events in 2015.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine how much the Swedish morning newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the evening newspaper Aftonbladet wrote about refugees and how they represented them during refugee crisis in September 2015 compared with when the border control began in January 2016. The purpose is to investigate how the news selection is been made, what events surrounding refugees became news and how they are described To be able to answer these questions I have combined two methods. The quantitative method used to observe how many articles were written about refugees, count and analize the number of the articles each newspaper produced during the mentioned period. In the qualitative section the rhetorical method by Karlberg & Mral's model (1998) ethos, pathos and logos concepts been used. In order to understand how the writer structured the text to convince the audience. The findnings of this study has been compared by each other and the reulst has showen a compiling differences and similarities between Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet. Both newspapers have different flow of news articles during different periods. At some stag in the refugee crisis period in September 2015 Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet has shown solidarity with the refugees, but during the border control period in January 2016 both newspapers monitoring and representation of refugees was not as positive and as much as during the refugee crises.

Yes / Recently, the demand for border crossing has increased massively, with the aim to increase the processing and clearance speed at border crossing points (BCP). The attempt to improve travel convenience, Border Cross Point (BCP) output, and national security result in automated border control (ABC) with biometric technology having a major effect on the efficiency, and safety of the control processes. The border processing of BCP can be increased by automating biometric recognition and facilitated by clearance procedures. This paper discussed the two structures of an e-gate (ABC) and a prospective benefit of biometrics to the EU border in terms of accuracy, integrity, robustness, and efficiency. Challenges posed by biometrics in border control systems were identified and recommendations such as multimodal systems and smart systems with AI and machine learning were suggested to assist travelers to cross border points faster. / e European Union’s Horizon-MSCA-RISE-2019-2023, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Research, and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), titled: Secure and Wireless Multimodal Biometric Scanning Device for Passenger Verification Targeting Land and Sea Border Control

La thèse est une étude du processus de sécurisation de l’immigration clandestine à l’œuvre dans l’Union européenne. Elle s’attache à expliquer la tension, voire la contradiction, existant entre l’ambition et la fermeté du discours européen sur le contrôle de l’immigration illégale, d’une part, et le risque politique intrinsèquement lié à ce choix, d’autre part. La prétention au contrôle des flux migratoires clandestins apparaît en effet largement illusoire tant en raison de l’ampleur et de la nature des flux concernés que de la faiblesse des moyens effectivement mis en œuvre par l’Union européenne. Au départ d’une grille d’analyse s’appuyant sur une lecture critique des approches constructivistes de la sécurité, la politique européenne de lutte contre l’immigration clandestine est interprétée comme étant l’expression d’un « discours de sécurité » forgeant des représentations sociales insécurisantes des migrants clandestins. Cette production sociale du « péril migratoire » est examinée sous l’angle des enjeux de légitimité entourant la création de l’espace européen de liberté, de sécurité et de justice. Dans ce cadre, nous soulignons que la lutte contre l’immigration l’illégale ne peut se réduire à son objectif explicite – la maîtrise des flux – mais qu’elle participe également d’un mécanisme classique de légitimation du corps politique supposant la définition d’une figure menaçante de l’altérité. Le « clandestin » représente dans cette optique un « objet insécurisant » consensuel qui émerge dans le champ européen au terme d’un processus de formation d’une volonté politique fonctionnant sur le mode du plus petit dénominateur commun. Agrégeant les inquiétudes exprimées à l’égard du terrorisme et de la criminalité transnationales mais aussi les préoccupations pour la stabilité économique, sociale et culturelle des sociétés européennes, cette figure permet de rassembler les États membres autour d’un projet sécuritaire commun. Elle contribue de ce fait à l’émergence d’une dynamique de type ami-ennemi reposant sur une opposition croissante entre un « Autre » incarné par le clandestin et un « Nous » qui, à défaut d’être culturellement homogène, se trouve unifié par un sentiment d’insécurité collectivement partagé.

In this chapter, we draw empirical and theoretical conclusions based on the various analyses contained in this volume that focus on the European and U.S. migration regimes. We conclude that immigration policies have a multitude of unintended effects which affect both migrants and governments in the countries of origin, transit, and arrival. This chapter begins with an overview of the interest policies inside and outside the ‘defended’ territories. In the U.S. a lucrative internal market of border control has emerged, whereas the EU’s externalized border control includes the neighboring countries. The second part describes the unintended effects arising due to inconsistent general policies of the countries of arrival and origin, which often contradict the official immigration policies. Following this, the limited effect of border control measures on immigrants and their journeys are discussed. In the fourth section we explore in more detail the unintended effects in the form of new areas of cooperation, including new forms of self-organization, local interest groups, and sanctuary movements. The final section summarizes the various unintended effects and offers recommendations for decision makers in the field of migration policy.

Die Dissertation untersucht die Kontrolle von Mobilität an fortifizierten Grenzen. Auch in Zeiten der Globalisierung steigt die Zahl von Grenzzäunen weltweit rapide an. Während Grenzbefestigungen in der Vergangenheit oft mit militärischen Konflikten in Verbindung standen, dienen sie heute in erster Linie der Kontrolle von Mobilität. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser Entwicklungen analysiert die Arbeit vier Fallstudien: die ungarisch-serbische, die US-amerikanisch-mexikanische, die pakistanisch-indische und die algerisch-marokkanische Grenze. Ausgehend von der Frage, wie an befestigten Grenzen Mobilität kontrolliert wird, werden die Funktionsweisen von Grenzen herausgearbeitet. Die Arbeit besteht aus drei Artikeln. Der erste untersucht anhand der ungarisch-serbischen Grenze die Wirkung der Fortifizierung auf Migrationskontrolle und Innenpolitik und betont darüber hinaus die Bedeutung der internationalen Verflechtungen dieser Grenze. Der zweite Beitrag vergleicht zwei Zäune, den US-amerikanischen und den ungarischen. Er untersucht Migrationskontrolle mit einem Fokus auf Asyl und zeigt, dass die Grenzzäune hier eine materielle, eine symbolische und eine Filterfunktion erfüllen. Sie dienen dazu, MigrantInnen am Überschreiten der Grenze zu hindern und damit den Zugang zu Asyl zu beschränken. Der dritte Artikel vergleicht alle vier Fälle. Der Artikel kommt zu dem Schluss, dass befestigte Grenzen Ungleichheiten sowohl auf globaler als auch auf lokaler Ebene verstärken und dabei sowohl MigrantInnen als auch die Grenzbevölkerung marginalisieren. Zusammenfassend untersucht die Dissertation Grenz- und Migrationskontrolle und analysiert dabei die Gründe für die Grenzbefestigungen ebenso wie deren Kontext und Auswirkungen. Befestigte Grenzen verstärken durch Kontrolle und Filtern von Mobilität verschiedene Formen von Ungleichheit und Marginalisierung. Da Grenzen weltweit immer stärker fortifiziert werden, sind diese Themen von größter Aktualität. / This dissertation investigates mobility control at fortified borders. Border fortifications are on the rise today and will most probably shape the future of nation states and global mobility. Whereas in the past border fences were often associated with military conflict, the new walls are mostly designed to control and filter mobility. In light of these developments, the thesis analyzes four case studies, namely the Hungarian-Serbian, the U.S. American-Mexican, the Pakistani-Indian and the Algerian-Moroccan borders. Starting with the question of how fortified borders control mobility, it provides an extensive analysis of the control function of borders. The thesis is comprised of three papers. The first examines the Hungarian-Serbian border, highlighting the topics of migration control and domestic politics as well as the international entanglements of this border. The second paper compares two fences, namely the U.S. American and the Hungarian. It examines migration control with a focus on the issue of asylum and shows that fortifications fulfil a material, a symbolical and a filtering function in order to prevent refugees from crossing the border, thereby restricting access to asylum. The third article compares all four cases. It concludes that fortified borders increase inequalities on both the global and the local level, triggering severe social and human effects on both migrants and border populations. In sum, the dissertation explores the topics of border control, selectivity, power relations and inequality by analyzing four fortified borders. It sheds light on different aspects of border control, including the reasons for fortifications as well as their context and impact. It argues that by controlling and filtering mobility, fortified borders sustain and reinforce different forms of inequality and marginalization. As the world’s borders are becoming more and more fortified, these topics are highly relevant and require further research.

Since the 2015 migration crisis, Frontex has expanded and increased its information-gathering on migrants. This has led to controversial activities post-2015 despite the Agency’s self-perceived humanitarian identity. The aim of this thesis is to analyze Frontex’s problem representation of migration in the Agency’s annual Risk Analysis Reports from 2015-2022 on the basis of postcolonialism and corporeal research to problematize the implicit assumptions that make Frontex’s expansion and increased control of migrants intelligible and how this is justified despite the Agency’s stated humanitarian ambitions. To this end, the thesis adopts a poststructuralist methodological approach based on Bacchi’s (2009) and Bacchi & Goodwin’s (2016) account of the WPR-model. In the analysis and concluding discussion, I argue that postcolonial and patriarchal power relations reinforce gendered and racialized constructions of the migrant body as a Terrorist, Victim, or Liar, which leads to a supposed need for increased information to separate the illegitimate from the legitimate migrant. How this is made intelligible as a “humanitarian” effort can be found in the production of abject bodies, either to be expulsed or transformed, where humanitarianism only applies to the feminized Victim while the masculinized Terrorist must be defeated. By depicting increased information and control as a humanitarian commitment to the saving of Victim lives, the Agency’s expansion is represented as a humanitarian effort.

Depuis plusieurs années, les États membres de l’Union européenne (UE) se soumettent à des politiques restrictives, en matière d’asile, qui les contraignent à respecter leur engagement de protéger les personnes qui fuient la persécution. Plusieurs politiques de dissuasion de l’UE sont controversées. Certaines ont d’abord été élaborées dans différents États, avant que l’UE ne mette en place une politique commune en matière d’asile. Certaines des ces politiques migratoires ont été copiées, et ont un effet négatif sur la transformation des procédures d’asile et du droit des réfugiés dans d’autres pays, tel le Canada. En raison des normes minimales imposées par la législation de l’UE, les États membres adoptent des politiques et instaurent des pratiques, qui sont mises en doute et sont critiquées par l’UNHCR et les ONG, quant au respect des obligations internationales à l'égard des droits de la personne. Parmi les politiques et les pratiques les plus critiquées certaines touchent le secteur du contrôle frontalier. En tentant de remédier à l’abolition des frontières internes, les États membres imposent aux demandeurs d’asile des barrières migratoires quasi impossibles à surmonter. Les forçant ainsi à s’entasser dans des centres de migration, au nord de l’Afrique, à rebrousser chemin ou encore à mourir en haute mer. / For many years, EU member states have imposed strict controls on asylum and have often failed to respect their commitment to provide protection to persons fleeing persecution. Many of the controversial EU policies of deterrence have been developed by different member states and implemented on an EU level. Some of those policies have been copied and brought negative changes to the refugee law system in other countries, such as Canada. Under the minimal standards imposed by the EU legislation, the states are adopting and putting in place policies and practices whose compliance with the international human rights obligations is questionable and criticized by the UNHCR and NGOs. Some of the most controversial policies and practices put in place are in the area of border control. Aiming to compensate for the abolishment of internal borders, EU member states are imposing nearly insurmountable barriers to asylum seekers who find themselves suffocating in migration centres in North Africa, turned back or left to die at high sea.