What's behind the increased focus on European border security?

The billions allocated to border security and surveillance technology — and paid to the same arms and defence companies profiting from the conflicts people are fleeing — could be better spent on housing and social services for all

The harms caused by the border-industrial-security-complex are complicated and far-reaching, extending beyond the migrants who are most directly and seriously affected. File photo: AP/Michael Varaklas

The brutality of the border control and deportation policies of the Trump administration have rightly brought forth condemnation and no doubt many families in Ireland are fearful about the safety of loved ones in the United States. 

In Europe, as well as the United States are witnessing an intensification of what is referred to in the academic literature as the ‘securitisation’ of migration.