Introduction: Entangled and Uneven Landscapes of Digitised Migration
Article / Journal
Author(s) / editor(s):
Ana Ćuković
,
Ayse Caglar
,
Giorgia Dona
,
Manish K. Jha
,
Paolo Novak
Year: 2026
Language(s): English
Abstract:
This passage examines how digital technologies have become central to the organization and governance of international migration. Biometric databases, automated decision-making, social-media surveillance, algorithmic risk assessments, messaging platforms, and remote asylum interviews are transforming borders into increasingly digital and automated systems.
The authors argue that digital technologies are not merely neutral tools or technical upgrades to traditional border controls. They actively shape migration by revealing, reproducing, and sometimes challenging existing inequalities, hierarchies, and forms of exclusion. Their expansion raises questions about data ownership, privacy, sovereignty, biopolitics, regulation, and the growing power of automated systems to define migrants and determine their rights.
The passage also invites critical investigation into whether automated border regimes create new inequalities or reinforce older ones. While these technologies can enable surveillance, exclusion, and control, they may also provide opportunities for migrant agency, resistance, solidarity, and alternative forms of political action.
https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.70168
Post created by: Virginia Signorini