“Profiles” of Deportability: Analyzing Spanish Migration Control Policies from a Neocolonial Perspective

Abstract

[Abstract] Over the first decade of the 21st Century, Spain was a most popular destination for international migrations. Successive Spanish governments, acting as gatekeepers of the SW European border, addressed this phenomenon through a set of sovereign measures, such as selective and racially biased policing, detention in internment centres and deportation. Some key aspects of these migration control policies have gradually changed throughout the last two decades. One of them is what may be called the ‘profile’ of the actually ‘deportable’ migrant. The analysis of the empirical data on the arrest, detention and deportation of migrants provides valuable information on the demographic profile of the targeted individuals and sheds light on the rationale underlying the migration control apparatus. Specifically, this paper delves into the nationalities of individuals affected by the cycle of deportation in order to grasp the enduring persistence of neo-colonial power relations within current bordered penality.