Internal bordering in the context of undeportability: Border performances in Italy’

In a contemporaneity of high mobility, porous borders, and harsher immigration laws, the great majority of illegalized migrants are not deported; they remain in the territory in a condition of legal non-existence. Through a case study of the interaction between illegalized migrants and police in Italy, this article demonstrates the utility of the concept of “border performativity” for the research on border control. It reveals how “differential inclusion” operates in a particular site, and it uses Althusser’s concept of interpellation in its discussion of discipline and resistance in the mechanisms of internal bordering. Finally, my development (and use) of the term undeportability extends theory by urging criminologists of mobility to consider contexts in which choices are structured by the inability of officials to fully deploy the deportation regime.