Aubrey Grant

Honors in Political Science

Major: Political Science Minor: International Affairs

Supervisor: Daniel Masters, Political Science

Securitizing Deportation as part of Homeland Security: The Impact of Major Terrorist Events on a State’s Security Profile

Western democracies have each taken steps to protect themselves from international terrorist threats, which has given rise to a new form of security called “Homeland Security”. Homeland Security differs greatly from traditional security, as it shifts attention to infrastructure inside the state’s borders in an effort to protect the population and respond to terrorist threats. One part of the new “Homeland Security” profile that each state seems to have identified as a primary security concern is immigration. Immigration is increasingly important to counterterrorism, because through immigration terrorist networks are able to enter and carry out their objectives. It is widely believed that deportation is increasing among the terrorist target states in response to the terrorist threat. However, there is little evidence to date that confirms the securitization of immigration. In order to assess the degree of immigration securitization, this study draw on three case studies, the United States; the United Kingdom; and Spain to assess the application of deportation following major terrorist attacks, and if deportation is targeted at perceived “enemy immigrant groups”.

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