On shipwrecks and deportation in a historical perspective

In a new article in Nordic Journal for Migration Research, Senior Researcher Ninna Nyberg Sørensen reflects on changes in the conditions of transnational mobility. Drawing on continuous engagement with Dominican migrants in sending, transit, destination and return situations from 1985 to the present, it is shown how increasingly strict migration control measures profoundly alter the existential option of living lives across borders. Particular attention is placed on changes in the right to move and settle, the absence of avenues for regular migration and the concomitant rise in high-risk irregular migration. These changes are analysed through concrete examples including exposure to the risk to life, safety and investments during journeys, the risk of exploitation in both transit and destination countries and the risks resulting from being subject to deportation and removal from family and community. The analysis shows that there is nothing new about migrants losing their lives in shipwrecks or being deported on different grounds. What is new is the intensity and impact on migrants and their communities as a direct consequence of state efforts to stem unwanted flows.