Abstract
This article examines transformations in migration and security, arising from COVID-19 prevention measures. It utilises the Copenhagen school to theorise and illuminate the changes in the securitisation of migration and mobility in the United States. The focus on the United States was based on the fact that the country has, on top of being the world's most securitised, been the most severely affected by the pandemic, considering numerical statistics of infected and affected persons, deaths, and socio-economic impact. In doing so, the paper utilised relevant information sourced from online publications such as newspaper articles and other relevant institutional websites of the key agencies in the fight of the COVID-19 pandemic, chiefly the World Health Organisation, Centre for Disease Control, and the United States federal and state governments and academic journal articles. The main argument of the paper is that the COVID-19 pandemic will produce similar effects on migration and security as the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. The lessons gleaned from the current pandemic will most likely be a significant factor in shaping future politics and policies on the securitisation of migration and human mobility. The pandemic's portrayal as a security threat to human health has resulted in significant changes like travel embargoes, suspension of issuance of specific visa categories, and internal mobility controls, and now many countries are demanding for negative test results before allowing in any foreign arrivals into their territories. The paper concludes that the pandemic has ushered in alternative securitisation measures that would cause a shift in migration and security discourse from human-to-human aggression, notably terrorism, to the contagion of the pathogens like the coronavirus.
 
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Highlights
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which causes acute respiratory disease broke out in China in late 2019 (Dagens et al, 2020)
The first section of the paper is dedicated to the application of the Copenhagen school to understanding the interplay between COVID19 prevention measures and securitisation of migration, while the second section examines how COVID-19 prevention actions have impacted on migration/human mobility
The author utilised sources that were specific to COVID-19, using keys words such as COVID-19, Coronavirus, travel restrictions, migration, security, securitisation, and mobility
Summary
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which causes acute respiratory disease broke out in China in late 2019 (Dagens et al, 2020). Based on the impact of the virus on the country (US) coupled with its position as the world's most securitised country— especially in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks (Amoore, 2006; de Haas et al, 2019), the article seeks to examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on migration and human mobility in the United States. 79) have been on the rise, in a view to enhance the capacity of different actors in controlling and regulating of the flow of people – most especially cross-border movements (Amoore, 2006; Walters, 2006) Such actions have been more profound in developed economies like the United States and the European Union (Andreas, 2003). The first section of the paper is dedicated to the application of the Copenhagen school to understanding the interplay between COVID19 prevention measures and securitisation of migration, while the second section examines how COVID-19 prevention actions have impacted on migration/human mobility
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