Exclusion Through Imperio

Abstract

This article explores and unpacks the entanglements between law and geography that enable and advance the exclusion of non-citizens from entry into sovereign territory. We suggest that states manipulate jurisdiction within and beyond sovereign territory to extend enforcement. This jurisdiction applies primarily to the bodies of migrants themselves as opposed to fixed spaces. Like Elden’s (2009, 2013) imperio, or imperial power, this extension is spatially boundless, limitless in internal checks and administrative. Imperio places migrant bodies into new legal regimes with subjectivities that overlap and override existing protections, such as international refugee law. We develop our argument by considering enforcement practices in three areas: the waiting zone at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, search and rescue areas on the Central Mediterranean Sea and Australian excision zones.