Technology, Illegality, and the Government of Immigration

This article explores border policing as a way of governing illegal immi-gration. In particular, it focuses on the technical dimensions of this process— on border policing as a technology. Not just as any technology, however, but as a prophylactic one. Border policing is a prophylactic technology in the sense that it brings together an array of practical and intellectual mechanisms in an effort to affect the conduct of illegal immigrants in such as way as to forestall illicit border crossings. The goal here is social prophylaxis. It is to prevent undocumented immigrants from becoming ‘problems ’ in the social body through preventing their entry into the US. Key Words borders government illegality immigration technology Governing Immigration through Crime In this article, I would like to explore how undocumented immigrants in the United States have been governed since the 1990s, with some attention paid to the aftermath of 9/11.1 In particular, I want to focus on how this popu-lation has notably been governed through crime. Generally speaking, to govern through crime is to make crime and punishment the institutional context under which the efforts to guide the conduct of others takes place (Simon, 1997). Today, crime and punishment are a primary means through which political and other authorities generally seek to govern. This crucial facet of contemporary rule is clearly visible in the widespread popularity of tough-on-crime sentencing regimes of just desserts, deterrence, and retribution. These regimes include such measures as quality of life campaigns and zero tolerance policing, harsher penalties and the extensive utilization of imprisonment, three strikes and compulsory minimum sentencing policies, redress in juvenile court and the incarceration o