Agents, structures, and the moral basis of deportability

Abstract

Deportability is the omnipresent possibility of deportation, which gives rise to constant fear among migrants. In this article, I argue that a focus on deportability’s structural causes – such as global capitalism – obscures how the agency of state leaders and citizens produces policies that entrench this vulnerability and fear. Many in the West believe that the precarity of deportability is what migrants deserve because they are unsuitable for membership in the political community. These people are not scared of migrants. They just believe that the latter do not deserve to reap the benefits of living in their state, even if they contribute their fair share. Therefore, leaders will constantly have an incentive to securitize migrants and enact deportability-enhancing policies because the public will acquiesce. To mitigate deportability, states must cultivate a broader sense of cosmopolitan empathy about those from outside the political community. For if citizens cannot see migrants as worthy of aid or participation in their political community, they will remain susceptible to policies that reinforce deportability.