Migration, Security, and Politics: The Role of Politics in Securitizing Migration

This article explores the concept of securitization and the ways in which these practices are applied in the field of migration. After 9/11, there has been a new wave of securitization, as immigrants have been presented by the political elite and the media as a security threat. This has had an important impact on how migration is threated through politics and the law, and how migration is presented and perceived as a security threat by an important part of the host population. Migration is a global phenomenon, and in the past years, the securitization of migration has also become one. The article will explore what is understood as securitization, how this process takes place, and how this affects the rights of migrants. Furthermore, a selection of case studies will be presented to show the ways in which political discourses foster the securitization of migration and how these speech acts pave the way to apply laws and policies connecting migration to security. These cases will be useful to exemplify the importance of political acts on this process. Most important, this is useful to understand that securitization is the result of a political process based on inequality that entails the re-conceptualization of an international security threat.