“Regrettable but Necessary?” A Historical and Theoretical Study of the Rise of the U.K. Immigration Detention Estate and Its Opposition

Abstract

This article explores both the official history of immigration detention in the United Kingdom as well as a lesser‐known narrative of challenges to the practice. After outlining the legislative development of the U.K. detention estate, the study uses original research to demonstrate that Parliament, the courts, and civil society have historically been the sites of disagreement with both the supposedly benign nature of immigration detention as well as its promulgation as an ancillary tool to immigration control. The article also employs explanatory and normative theories to make sense of the continuing expansion of immigration detention across liberal states despite the moral outcry. The primary finding is that the U.K. government's attempts to normalize immigration detention have not been wholly successful. Related Articles Related Media Report: by Stephanie J.Silverman, and RuchiHajela. . “Immigration Detention in the UK.” Migration Observatory. http://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/immigration‐detention‐uk Podcast: by MichaelFlynn. . “Immigration Detention and the Aesthetics of Incarceration.” University of Oxford Podcasts—Audio and Video Lectures. http://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/immigration‐detention‐and‐aesthetics‐incarceration‐audio Este artículo explora la historia oficial de la detención de inmigrantes en el Reino Unido así como la menos conocida narrativa de los retos que se han visto en la práctica. Luego una breve exposición del desarrollo legislativo de las detenciones en el Reino Unido, este artículo muestra una investigación original para demostrar que el Parlamento, las cortes y la sociedad civil históricamente han sido lugares de desacuerdo con la supuesta naturaleza benigna de la detención de inmigrantes así como con su promulgación como una herramienta auxiliar para el control de la inmigración. El artículo también hace uso de teorías explicativas y normativas para comprender la continua expansión de la detención de inmigrantes en los estados liberales, a pesar de la indignación moral. El resultado principal es que los intentos del gobierno del Reino Unido para normalizar la detención de inmigrantes no ha sido del todo exitosa.

Detention-as-Spectacle

“…Chacón 2014: 623). The UK detention system evolved from an 'emergency' wartime technology into an everyday tool of migration management (Silverman 2012). Since its early origins in the Aliens Act 1905 and formal legislation in the Immigration Act of 1971, detention has trended towards a stricter practice with fewer opportunities for release.…”

“…A survey of the modern history of the UK detention system demonstrates that nowfamiliar tools of identification and isolation were introduced in the lead-up to the First and Second World Wars, and the Gulf War, and normalized through an appeal to national security concerns during wartime (Silverman 2012). In Malta, policymakers justify strict detention policies with reference to the small size of the country and the 'disproportionate' numbers of unauthorised arrivals on the island (Mainwaring 2014;.…”

Indignity in Solihull: an activist response

“…This decision ignited a furious debate about the ethics of such contracts and the extent to which the organisation's independence and values were compromised by involvement in the mechanisms of control (Webber 2014). A common thread that has helped fuel the moral and public outrage towards these practices has been in each case, the infringement of children's human rights (Silverman 2012(Silverman , 1145.…”

Global Trends in Immigration Detention and Alternatives to Detention: Practical, Political and Symbolic Rationales

“…The policy of detention is highly controversial due to its impacts on health and human rights (Coffey et al 2010;Green and Eagar 2010;Lorek et al 2009;Robjant, Hassan and Katona 2009) and this brings with it significant and specific political pressures from a range of critics (Gryll 2011;Silverman 2012;Flynn 2012). Detention has even become a campaign issue in some countries, as noted earlier in relation to the French president.…”