Corrupt(ing) Borders: Navigating Urban Immigration Policing in Malaysia

Abstract

ABSTRACTCritical border studies have shown that it is no longer very useful to think of borders as fixed demarcations at the edge of the nation state. Instead, such scholarship has illustrated how contemporary borders are enacted both beyond and within state territory—as well as how borders derive their meaning from the various bordering practices that determine who is (not) welcome on the ‘inside’. In this study the role of corruption in such bordering practices take center stage. Drawing upon fieldwork conducted in the Malaysian city of George Town, the study investigates migrants’ experiences of corruption in the context of (internal) border enforcement as it is performed through everyday immigration policing. The results show how corruption forms an integral feature of immigration policing in Malaysia, and how migrants tactically use bribery as a means to avoid arrests and consequent deportation. Beyond illustrating how corrupt arrangements influence migrants’ ability to transgress the border (in this case through avoiding expulsion), the study shows how corruption distorts the enforcement logic in ways that influence why, when and where the border is actually controlled. As such, the paper argues, corruption should not merely be read as part of the border performance, but also as performative of the border itself.