Global Ethics as a field builds on long traditions of ethical reflection about (global) society and discusses ethical approaches to global issues (Khosravi 3)
I choose this quote from the introduction part because it has a rich resonate of the critical elements in the book; because, borders symbolize the sovereignty of states. A nation-state can be imagined only through its borders. In the nation-state system, zone, naked biological life, is immediately transformed into bios, political experience or citizenship.
The quote from the book illustrates the fact that the boundaries of a nation constitute a natural order in many dimensions of human life. In other words, borders are no longer the dull edges of a state. Besides, boundaries are the essential reference of collective sense, of identity. They are not only external realities but also ‘colour bars’ situated everywhere and nowhere. More so, violation of the border regime is a violation of ethical and appealing norms. If in the nation-state system unidentified asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants represent such ‘a worrying element, it is above all because by breaking up the identity between man and citizen, nativity and nationality, migrants throw into crisis the original fiction of sovereignty. It is not surprising that they are a political and symbolic threat to national freedom or purity. Borders, however, are also spaces of defiance and resistance. Unlawful migration and boundaries are defined by each other. Where there is a border, there is also border crossing, legal as well as illegal. Besides, unguarded borders is a threat to the people who live close to the borders since a combination of human smuggling and trafficking and drug smuggling makes this border a lucrative place, causing insecurity and considerable violence for border people.
Furthermore, migrant illegality results in abrupt interruptions in one’s life and disruptions like detention, deportation and limited movement become more frequent. Migrants may also disappear without a trace. The invisible borders are as intractable as the visible ones, and the wounds they inflict no less real. The bleeding caused by crossing these borders might be less acute than those inflicted by a physical boundary, but it lasts longer. Migrants pay the price of harsher border control not only with their money but also with their lives. The brutality of human smuggling has increased with the tightening of border control. Since smuggling people by air has become almost impossible, smugglers now use land and sea routes. To evade the most controlled border sections, smuggling routes, be directed to more inaccessible and dangerous areas. By closing the most accessible parts of borders, geography would do the rest. For a nation to survive unauthorized border crossing in the present border regime, physical strength is essential, so it is more likely that only young, healthy and robust people will risk such a journey. Borders thus make a selection. The new border regime favours’ young, fit men and discourages women, children, and older people. Even in the case of irregular migration, borders enforce social sorting. Denying education and health services to undocumented children and prenatal care to undocumented women, ‘Illegal’ Travelers alongside a border regime that favours young, healthy men over women and children, has resulted in the feminization of irregular migration. For instance, the current Mexican–US border policy recalls the Bracero Program, which aimed to provide the American economy with cheap male labour.
Discussion questions
1 How do illegal migrants affect the economic, social, and cultural practices of the people living in a sovereign state?
2 How does unlawful migrant threaten the prevailing peace of the locals?