The Schengen Border and the Criminalization of Migration in Slovenia

Abstract Detention, expulsion and deterrence have become the predominant policy response to migration. It is reported that it is becoming increasingly difficult even to claim asylum in the EU. All states restrict border access, but immigration is criminalized most stringently in cases of asylum. Noting how many national jurisdictions are adopting ever more restrictive immigration control systems, the author discusses the recent criminalization of migration in Slovenia. The country’s former internal Yugoslav boundary became the European Union’s Schengen border in 2007, and what was a permeable demarcation between Slovenia and Croatia up to 1991 has now become a hard border, subject to securitization and surveillance. The author explores the policy-making surrounding the symbolic construction of Slovenia as an EU member state which has been charged with the role of Schengen border defender. She shows how this shift has become apparent in Slovenia’s immigration management policies, administrative practices, and political discourse.