Description
Migration control is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Immigration detention is a central component of these efforts to curb migration. Using archival sources, I trace the history of immigration detention in Germany. Often viewed as a recent phenomenon, German immigration detention emerged after the end of World War I and needs to be placed into the larger context of the intersections of xenophobia against Eastern European migrants and connected conceptions of deservingness and the economic situation. In doing so, the paper brings together two strands of scholarship that have gained in prominence in explaining the roots of migration controls: examinations of the role of colonialism and of internal mobility controls through vagrancy acts targeting the rural poor. Applying the insights of these inquiries in the context of German colonialism adds additional nuance to debates around colonialism and migration. Moreover, my project allows us to further theorize the co-constitutive nature of the criminal justice system and border controls within the larger framework of controlling marginalized and racialized populations. Recognizing the entangled histories of immigration detention with the carceral state, as I do here, enables us to see their role in a broader effort to control mobility in the service of capitalism.
