A groundbreaking interdisciplinary framing of migration and law, drawing from sociology, politics, philosophy, and history.

Borders not only demarcate nations and territories but transform people into migrants. Together with law and law enforcement, borders create residents and foreigners. The law ascertains who crosses borders and who does not and determines who remains foreign despite being within national borders. Migrating Borders and Citizenship in Law argues that law has multiple roles and mechanisms for breathing life into borders, operating at different locales and scales (from worldwide to the nation, and from the family to the workplace), and through different practices, including preventing entry and withholding access to resources.

This book examines case law, legislation, and press accounts relating to several key events in recent times that have changed the legal landscape on migration control, such as the Immigration and Nationality Acts in the United Kingdom, the end of empire, the arrival of Empire Windrush, Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the case of Shamima Begum. Focusing on race and ethnicity, gender, and class, as well as crime and control, Migrating Borders and Citizenship in Law contextualizes the legal debates around these historical and political developments, the question of who belongs, the consequences of behavior for immigration status and citizenship, and the links with conduct and national security.