Call for Papers: Crimmigration in an Age of Authoritarian Drift 

The Crimmigration Network (CINETS) and Border Criminologies invite paper and panel proposals for its seventh bi-annual conference, hosted at Leiden Law School. 

The 2026 edition centres on the theme:

“Crimmigration in an Age of Authoritarian Drift”

In recent years, the fusion of criminal law and immigration enforcement – commonly termed crimmigration – has intensified across the globe. Amid rising authoritarianism, democratic erosion, and far-right populism, migration has become both a symbolic and material battleground for nationalist politics.

From the detention and deportation drives in El Salvador and Tunisia, to the carceral deterrence strategies of Australia and the United Kingdom, to the Trump administration’s family separation policies and the hardline border regimes of Hungary, Italy, and Poland, punitive migration control is increasingly deployed as a means of political legitimation. Across both the Global North and the Global South, authoritarian logics of mobility governance are used to surveil, marginalise, and contain targeted populations—often along racialised, ethnic, and class lines.

This conference explores how crimmigration operates as a tool of governance and political performance in democratic, hybrid, and authoritarian settings. We welcome interdisciplinary submissions from legal, social, political, and cultural perspectives, including but not limited to: migration and asylum law, criminal law, criminology, political science, sociology, anthropology, international relations, socio-legal studies, history, human geography, and critical race/postcolonial theory. We also encourage contributions that engage with arts-based research, activist scholarship, Indigenous epistemologies, and community-based knowledge production.

Make sure to save the dates (July 5-7, 2026) to come to the picturesque city of Leiden, and get your proposals ready for submission by 15 October 2025.

Key Themes:

• Trump-era legacies: Family separation, criminal prosecution of asylum seekers, Title 42 expulsions
• European rightward shift: Pushbacks, detention expansion, and externalization deals (e.g., Libya, Tunisia)
• Digital authoritarianism: Surveillance tech, algorithmic bias, and biometric regimes across regions
• Penal border regimes: Carceral deterrence strategies in Australia, UK, El Salvador
• Colonial continuities: Race, empire, and settler-colonial logics in modern crimmigration
• Law and resistance: Courts, lawyers, and grassroots resistance to deportation and border violence
• Comparative authoritarianism: Crimmigration in hybrid/autocratic states (Turkey, Russia)

We encourage:

• Comparative case studies spanning Global North and Global South
• Empirical research (e.g., ethnography, policy analysis, data-based studies)
• Legal analyses of constitutional challenges, jurisprudential shifts, and international obligations
• Artistic methodologies and/or outputs: photography, installations, documentary film, etc.

Program Highlights:

• Welcome Reception for all & Poster Presentations for PhD students – July 5
• Two full days of panels and plenaries – July 6–7
• Four plenary sessions featuring distinguished international speakers
• Thematic parallel panels and interactive formats
• Dedicated space for artistic, activist, and practice-based contributions

Submission Guidelines

1. Individual Papers

• Abstract: max. 400 words
• Please indicate if the submission is work-in-progress or completed research

2. Panel Proposals

• Panel abstract: max. 200 words
• 4 or 5 individual paper abstracts: each max. 400 words
• Panels must be submitted as a whole

3. Poster Presentations

• Indicate the topic and author(s)
• Posters will be presented during the welcome reception

4. Artistic Methodologies or Outputs

• Submit a short description of the work and how it is best showcased (e.g., film screening, installation, photo exhibit)

Important Dates:

Deadline for submissions: October 15, 2025

Notification of acceptance: December 15, 2025

Registration deadline: February 1st, 2026

Program published: March 1st, 2026

We warmly invite you to join us in Leiden for a dynamic, critical, and timely gathering of crimmigration scholars and practitioners from across the globe.

Visit the event page at Leiden University for keynote announcements and further logistical updates.