'Criminal deportation’: Analysing interactions between migration control and criminal justice systems in Australia
This project investigates the convergence of migration control and criminal justice by analysing pathways to what we call ‘criminal deportation’ i.e. deportation following cancellation of a visa on character grounds, generally following a criminal conviction. Our emphasis will be on processes leading to the deportation of non-citizens who are longstanding residents and members of Australian communities. Little is known about how criminal justice institutions such as police, courts and prisons have been affected by the increasing focus on the criminal offending and character of these non-citizens. Conceptualising the criminal deportation system as a crimmigration assemblage, we will map and examine interactions between federal migration control and state criminal justice agencies in Australia at multiple points along the pathway towards criminal deportation, demonstrating the many possibilities for interactions between these crimmigration partners along the way. We will identify how each of these agencies contributes to, and/or inhibits, the ultimate outcome of criminal deportation, and consider whether involvement in this system is transforming their day-to-day practice.
The project is funded by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant DP210100931.
Project publication outputs
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Gerard, A. (2025). Care experience and deportation: Exploring interactions between child protection, criminal justice and migration control. Griffith Law Review, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2024.2447217
Gerard, A., & Gainsford, A. (2025). Dispossession cycles and resistance: Historical continuums in the deportation of First Nations peoples. Sydney Law Review, 46(3), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.30722/slr.20596
Marmo, M. (2025). Non-citizen women and visa cancellation: The role of gender in Australia’s current deportation regime under s 501. Griffith Law Review. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2025.2450589
Marmo, M and Guo, S. (2025). Social-legal frameworks to understand deportation of non-citizens: international laws versus national laws and policies. Griffith Law Review. Online first. https://doi.org/10.1080/10383441.2025.2590831
Weber, L., & Gerard, A. (2024). Robodeport or surveillance fantasy? How automated is automatic visa cancellation in Australia?. Frontiers in Sociology, 9, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1336160
Weber, L., Gerard, A. & Powell, R (2025) Indefinite detention as enemy crimmigration, (Under Review).
Conference Presentations
Gerard, A., & Weber, L. (2023) Automation within Australia’s criminal deportation system; questioning the extent of algorithms and visa cancellation, Algorithmic Justice Symposium, University of Newcastle, Australia
Gerard, A. (2024) Performing the Criminal Justice System: Visa Cancellation and Cycles of Injustice in Australia, British Society of Criminology, University of Glasgow, Scotland UK.
Weber, L, Gerard, A and Powell, R, ‘Protecting the community from the (non-citizen) enemy within: administrative detention and deportation as ‘enemy crimmigration’’, Carcerality & Resistance: Investigating Immigration Detention as a Failed Project, Edinburgh University, 22-24 May, 2024
Weber, L ‘Researching ‘criminal deportation’ in Australia: Piecing together a ‘crimmigration assemblage’, CINETS Conference, Portland, Oregon, 1-2 Mar, 2024
Weber, L, Gerard, A and Powell, R ‘When deportation fails: Understanding indefinite detention in Australia as ‘enemy crimmigration’’, A Critical Lens on Mass Deportation of Non-Citizens, Flinders University, Adelaide 8-9 Feb, 2024
Weber, L., Gerard, A., & Powell, R. (2024) When deportation fails: understanding indefinite detention in Australia as ‘enemy crimmigration, Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology Conference, Canterbury University, Christchurch Aotearoa New Zealand.
Parliamentary Submissions
Gerard, A., & Weber, L. (2024) Submission: Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2021
Marmo, M., & Bandiera, R. (2024) Submission: customs amendment (preventing child labour) bill 2023
Marmo, M., Gerard, A., & Weber, L. (2024) Submission: Inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill 2024
Media Releases
Weber, L., Gerard, A., & Powell, R. (2023, Dec 8). Indefinite Detention in Australia as ‘Enemy Crimmigration’. University of Oxford. https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-criminologies-blog/blog-post/2023/12/indefinite-detention-australia-enemy-crimmigration