The Illegal, the Missing: an Evaluation of Conceptual Inventions
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0305829817708812 |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829817708812
Millennium: Journal of
International Studies
2017, Vol. 46(1) 24 –40
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0305829817708812
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The Illegal, the Missing: an
Evaluation of Conceptual
Inventions
Christina Oelgemöller
Loughborough University, UK
Abstract
Migration Management, a regime of radical differentiation and exclusion, renders many people
illegal because they violate the laws of access across geopolitical borders. Migration Management
further disappears some of these illegal people outside of the external boundaries of the Global
North. Recently, however, discursive moves to mobilise the concept of the ‘missing person’ in
the context of illegal migration have been introduced when discussing Mediterranean migration
in particular. This article offers an ethico-political evaluation of such conceptual innovations. The
article asks if a reconceptualisation of the illegal migrant as ‘missing person’ is able to destabilise
Migration Management and concludes that this is unlikely. The article illustrates how this
reconceptualisation cements the more radical practices of exclusion whilst the boundary-drawing
is reformulated as one between dead and living migrants.
Keywords
missing persons, illegal migration, death, political subjectivity, boundaries, juridico-technological
mechanisms
Resumen
La Gestión Migratoria, un régimen de diferenciación y exclusión radicales, sitúa a numerosas
personas en la ilegalidad debido a su violación de las leyes de acceso a través de fronteras
geopolíticas. La Gestión Migratoria además hace desaparecer a algunas de estas personas ilegales
fuera de los límites exteriores del Norte Global. No obstante, recientemente se ha introducido
un discurso dirigido a movilizar el concepto de “persona desaparecida” en el contexto de la
migración ilegal al discutir particularmente la migración mediterránea. El presente artículo
ofrece una evaluación ético-política de dicha innovación conceptual, preguntándose si una
reconceptualización del migrante ilegal como “persona desaparecida” podría desestabilizar
la Gestión Migratoria, concluyendo que esto resulta improbable. El artículo ilustra cómo esta
Corresponding author:
Christina Oelgemöller, Loughborough University, Manzoni Building, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK.
Email: e.c.oelgemoller@lboro.ac.uk
708812MIL0010.1177/0305829817708812Millennium: Journal of International StudiesOelgemöller
research-article2017
Article
Oelgemöller 25
1. ‘Death Toll of African Migrants Rises after Boat Disaster near Lampedusa’, The Guardian, 12
October 2013. Available at: www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/12/african-migrants-boat-
lampedusa-capsizes-mediterranean. Last accessed 16 October 2013.
2. Tweet @MalmstroemEU, 3 October 2013.
3. Ibid.
4. P. Ordaz, ‘Solo los muertos pueden quedarse’, El Pais, 5 October 2013. Available at: http://
internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2013/10/05/actualidad/1380999528_613934.html.
Last accessed 22 February 2014.
reconceptualización consolida las prácticas de exclusión más radicales al mismo tiempo que se
reformulan las representaciones de los límites como aquellos entre migrantes vivos y muertos.
Palabras clave
personas desaparecidas, migración ilegal, muerte, subjetividad política, límites, mecanismos
jurídico-tecnológicos
Résumé
La gestion des migrations, un régime de différentiation et d’exclusion radicales, relègue de
nombreuses personnes dans l’illégalité pour enfreinte aux lois sur le passage des frontières
géopolitiques. La gestion des migrations fait également disparaître certaines de ces personnes
« illégales » à l’extérieur des frontières de l’hémisphère nord. Cependant, récemment, des
glissements du discours ont eu lieu, mettant en œuvre le concept de « personne portée disparue »
dans le contexte de la migration clandestine, notamment dans le traitement des migrations à
travers la Méditerranée. Cet article propose une évaluation éthico-politique de cette innovation
conceptuelle. Il se demande si cette reconceptualisation des migrants clandestins comme des
« personnes portées disparues » est susceptible de déstabiliser la gestion des migrations, et
conclut que cela est peu probable. Il montre également comment ladite reconceptualisation
affermit les pratiques d’exclusion les plus radicales tout en reformulant la ligne de division comme
séparant les migrants morts de ceux restés vivants.
Mots clés
personnes portées disparues, migration clandestine, mort, subjectivité politique, limites,
mécanismes juridico-technologiques
Introduction
On 3 October 2013, a boat loaded with an estimated 500 migrants travelling from Africa to
Europe caught fire, capsized and sank. A few days later, the capsizing of another boat
resulted in more deaths.1 Since then, news media have regularly reported the deaths of ‘ille-
gal migrants’ in the Mediterranean. In the wake of the 3 October drownings, the European
Union (EU), represented by its then Home Affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem,
tweeted: ‘Appalled by Lampedusa tragedy. Thoughts are with victims and families’.2 These
are largely unidentified individuals. Malmstroem went on: ‘We must redouble efforts to
fight smugglers exploiting human despair’.3 A Spanish newspaper article entitled ‘Only the
Dead Can Stay’4 reported that the Italian Prime Minister had announced that all the deceased
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