Book review: Louise Boon-Kuo, Policing Undocumented Migrants: Law, Violence and Responsibility

AuthorDiarmaid Harkin
DOI10.1177/1362480619878896
Published date01 February 2020
Date01 February 2020
Subject MatterBook reviews
/tmp/tmp-175IPB5idAodHM/input Book reviews
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How might an understanding of time embedded in law change our view of what is the
law? Would it be possible to conjoin time and law to make claims about state racist poli-
cies and practices? So, too, could the book have benefited from incorporating the voices
of those who implement the laws and regulations. More generally, the inclusion of more
quotes from interviews or ethnographic vignettes would have given the reader a better
view of Spanish immigration institutions, the police force, detention and deportation. Out
of Moffette’s extensive fieldwork, a rarity in the present closed-door environments of
European states, scholars working on repressive migration regimes might find inspira-
tional material, such as the opinions of high-ranked officials in the Ministry of Labour (p.
93) or the one working for the Ministry of Employment and Social Security (p. 110) who
speaks freely on ‘illegal’ immigrants arriving on the Spanish shore on ‘patera’ (on a boat).
Nevertheless, the book builds a solid conceptual framework that fixes our gaze on the
damage we do to fellow humans whom we call (irregular) ‘migrants’.
Governing Irregular migration is a comprehensive account for scholars working on
the state, as well as on border studies, bureaucracy and policing. It is also useful for
political scientists and anthropologists who seek to have a broad view on the history of
migration policies and parliamentary debates, as well as police practices in Madrid and
Ceuta. This excellent book sets David Moffette among political scholars with a fearless
gaze over the most heated political debates and practices of our time: the politics of
knowledge and governing (irregular) migration. Beyond academic students and more
established scholars, this volume strikes as an informative text for professionals and
experts in the field of migration and a troublesome read for any concerned citizen.
Authors’ Note
Ioana Vrăbiescu is currently affiliated to University of...

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