Social work with borders: bordering technologies and human rights

This chapter examines contemporary borders and border-making processes within the context of technological developments in global migration management. Recent research has highlighted the widespread use of “racially biased” predicative policing algorithms, alongside data analytics that profile and punish poor communities under the guise of a more efficient and humane welfare state. Therefore, the significance of new technologies upon global migration is explored with a focus on the relationship between border technologies, human rights and social work. By drawing from insights within Science and Technology Studies (STS), the human and non-human interactions that manifest within bordering regimes are investigated and raise concerns about the variety of technological border agents deployed in order to manage migration. This provides insight into the impact of border technologies upon the human rights of people on the move and demonstrates how social work becomes co-opted into creating spaces that are complicit with unjust bordering regimes.