pp. 447-448
Supply Chain Justice: The Logistics of British Border Control, Mary Bosworth
In 2017, the contract for escorting detained migrants in the UK was given to Mitie, originally a cleaning and facilities management company, now one of the largest suppliers of services to the British government. Under a ten-year contract worth an estimated £525 million, Mitie circulates, detains, and removes people at the behest of the Home Office. In Supply Chain Justice, Mary Bosworth documents the sites of containment and forced circulation where the lucrative business of border control takes place—operational centers, holding facilities, custodial suites, secure vans, scheduled and chartered flights. The reader gains a wealth of insights into places and people that are usually “in the shadows” (73). Gaining access and conducting in-depth ethnographic research into this world of grimy, windowless spaces is a significant achievement.
Much of the business of immigration detention is oppressive and tedious. At one point Bosworth admits, “It is hard to find much to say about institutions where people sit and wait for the next part of the process to start.” (67) The most disturbing moments are, unsurprisingly, when physical force is used to remove people. One man is deported covered in blood from cuts caused by self-harm (134); others are physically bound and carried onto early morning charter flights, yelling and som
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