Description
We are told that Brexit is now “done”, and that the UK has “taken back control” of its borders. But what exactly does that look like? Particularly taking back control of the Irish border – a rebordering of a long-contested border.
The UK and EU’s commitment to “avoiding a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls” has resulted in the UK relying on a series of bordering practices to secure the Irish border against undesirable immigration, specifically checks conducted under the EU Settled Status and Frontier Worker Permit schemes.
These checks, unlike conventional bordering practices, rely less on immigration and border professionals, enlisting ordinary citizens who lack the training and experience of the border field. In the Irish border region this is further complicated by questions of identity and citizenship; the UK requires British and Irish nationals to secure its border in Northern Ireland, potentially challenging Irish/European identities and leading to resistance to enacting the UK’s border.
In this paper I analyse these practices and engage with ‘citizen border guards' in Derry-Londonderry to understand how these ordinary citizens navigate their role as border guards, and the implications for their sense of ontological security, identity, and citizenship.
