The spatio‐temporal ordering of migrant detention: Exclusion, hierarchy, and human disposal

This paper analyses the spatialities and temporalities of a U.S. migrant detention centre, to demonstrate the entanglement of migrant exclusion with dehumanisation and racialisation. I examine spatial orderings such as isolation, segregation, and regulated mobilities in detention alongside the arbitrary and deadening tempos and rhythms of detention. I find patterns of inclusionary exclusion through which the “consent” of detained people to their own deportation is conditioned by dehumanising spatio‐temporalities. These patterns are the product of the highly standardised, regulated, and ordered spatio‐temporalities of detention. I ultimately argue that the spatial and temporal ordering of detention, in all of its standardisation, is a racialising project that rationalises exclusion and dehumanisation, placing responsibility for degradation, deportation, and even premature death, upon those in detention.