'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.