Who is entitled to feel in the age of populism? Women’s resistance to migrant detention in Britain
- For policymakers
- Summary created: 2021
My research is on how immigration policies in Britain impact migrants psychologically and emotionally, and what kind of policies can be formulated to ensure their perspective on British society remain positive.
This summary, including its recommendations and ideas, was created by Ali Bilgic and is based on original research. The original research itself was conducted in collaboration with the following researcher.
This research looks at the role of emotions in the age of populist politics, and we asked the questions: Whose emotions are prioritised and whose emotions are marginalised and silenced? This is important as whose emotions are considered to matter in politics is closely related to whose security matters.
This research takes the case of detention Britain. While detention has become a common practice in the past twenty years, there are no tangible benefits and it is very expensive. Additionally, detention has faced a lot of criticism and most of the detainees are actually released back into society – so it appears there is no reason. Within this context, this research asks therefore this research questions why the British government are continuing this practice? There is no rational reason.
Insights
This research argues that detention is a performance.
The government use it as a tool to help ease the fears and anxieties of anti-immigrant and populist feelings - meaning the government are prioritising the emotions and security of anti-immigration groups over detainees, and at the expense of the detainees security.
This research shows the human cost of this inefficient policy.
It found that by marginalising the detainees emotions and making them endure the detention experience, any positive perception of Britain is completely shattered.
What it means
In one interview a former detainee said that they felt British before detention, and when asked if they felt British following release from detention, their answer was ‘no, I don’t feel British anymore’.
So just by detaining this person, their connection and relationship to British society was cut, making integration harder, and undermining current practice. Detention is therefore a counterproductive policy.
This research is based on detention on the UK. The UK is borrowing from criminal practices, but without the rights that any prisoner would have under criminal law. Detainees have no rights. But this research is relevant to detention across Europe, Australia and the USA too, where detention has become a common and established practice. In France, they use time limits, which makes their detention slightly more established, principled and lawful.
Proposed action
Alternative models to detention include community-based monitoring systems and technology-based monitoring systems, which use the tax payers money more efficiently
Begin phasing out detention, and during this phase they need to make sure that the detainees are not subjected to gendered and racial abuse
If detention should remain, then it needs to be nationalised
Instead of detention being a regular standard policy, it needs to instead be the last resort
More effort must be made to maintain a good relationship between the immigrant and society (most easily achieved by prioritising alternative models)
Share your thoughts
You must be logged in to ask a question. Make an account.
Acknowledgements
Are you a researcher looking to make a real-world impact? Join Acume and transform your research into a practical summary.