Abstract(s)
In The New Politics of Immigration, Professor Catherine Dauvergne proposes that as migration
policies converge at the global level the traditional difference between settler societies and
former European colonies is becoming irrelevant. To test this argument, this paper addresses the
impact of externalization, militarization, detention and deportation on unaccompanied migrant
children along the southern Spanish and US borders. I conclude that the combined used of these
strategies is designed to keep all unwanted migrants away from the physical border of the state
regardless of their background and prevents children from accessing specific protections. Current
border policy in these two countries shows the primacy of national security concerns over human
rights and supports Dauvergne’s argument that distinctions between former colonies and settler
societies are disappearing. The evidence considered here points towards an increasingly
restrictive and punitive global border regime, but one with regional variations.