The myth(s) of control in EU border control: risk analysis, technology, and border control

This paper examines what it calls ‘the myth of control’ in EU border control. This myth refers to the (misguided) belief that irregularised migration can be fully controlled. While much research has focused on why border controls are unable to keep refugees and migrants out, less attention has been devoted to how the actors tasked with designing and implementing these controls understand their failed attempts at doing so and the productive power of myths in this. Focusing on the time period 2010–2021, the paper explores how the myth of control is both resisted and reproduced in the European Border and Coast Guard agency’s (Frontex) risk analysis reports as well as interviews with border guards, Frontex, and European Commission officials. It demonstrates that while being aware of the limitations of the myth of control, these actors nonetheless perpetuate it through their continued calls for more comprehensive risk analyses, better use of technology, and strengthened border controls. The political workings of this myth thus allow them to rationalise their work despite their consistent shortcomings in preventing unwanted migration, while at the same time legitimising increasingly deadly border controls.