Joe Brusky/Fickr. (CC BY-NC 2.0)
We can’t routinely comply with immigration controls while claiming solidarity with unauthorised migrants. If we’re genuinely opposed to and abhorred at what’s going on right now, we should demonstrate this through civil disobedience. If significant numbers of people refuse to comply with these laws, this would not only reduce their efficacy but also compel governments to fully explore precisely how violent they can be. Getting yourself deported might be the best way of supporting your undocumented friends.
Lets start by establishing a basic and – I should hope – shared premise. Immigration controls are inherently unjust. Passports and visas divide us into those who belong and can stay and those who do not, and can not. These distinctions are not based on who you love or what you know but on the ‘lottery of birth’, vagaries of power politics and – most importantly – the consistent effort by a long line of governments to shape populations to match their specific racial, class or religious ideals.
