The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration
In this commentary, I explore the temporal dimension of promissory notes of advancing security in the EU through the convergence of migration and crime control, entangled with the interoperability framework and the EU information systems for security, border and migration management. Since its adopt...
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SAGE Publishing
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Big Data & Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251359227 |
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| author | Nina Amelung |
| author_facet | Nina Amelung |
| author_sort | Nina Amelung |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this commentary, I explore the temporal dimension of promissory notes of advancing security in the EU through the convergence of migration and crime control, entangled with the interoperability framework and the EU information systems for security, border and migration management. Since its adoption in 2019, the interoperability project has been in a constant state of becoming, with different subprojects with their own trajectories and timelines, dedicated to the expansion of law enforcement's access to migration data. Studies on yet unbuilt infrastructures highlight how unfinished projects can reshape social and political life while being in the making and explore how incrementally evolving projects rely on promissory notes, causing aspirations and anxieties, yet developing political, material, and affective significance. The opening of existing migration databases such as Eurodac for law enforcement access is already in operation. The inclusion of the law enforcement database system Prüm into the interoperability project is planned and foreseen with the Prüm 2 update. I explore two temporal configurations of the interoperability project: delays and infrastructural obfuscation on the one hand and disconnected temporalities as multiplicity of expansions on the other hand, and their substantive impacts on the criminalization of migrants and migration. I conclude by calling for infrastructural accountability confronting the temporal aspects of obfuscation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e15a37c46a654b5eadc03e6a0da4ddb1 |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2053-9517 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-09-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Big Data & Society |
| spelling | doaj-art-e15a37c46a654b5eadc03e6a0da4ddb12025-08-04T06:03:21ZengSAGE PublishingBig Data & Society2053-95172025-09-011210.1177/20539517251359227The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migrationNina AmelungIn this commentary, I explore the temporal dimension of promissory notes of advancing security in the EU through the convergence of migration and crime control, entangled with the interoperability framework and the EU information systems for security, border and migration management. Since its adoption in 2019, the interoperability project has been in a constant state of becoming, with different subprojects with their own trajectories and timelines, dedicated to the expansion of law enforcement's access to migration data. Studies on yet unbuilt infrastructures highlight how unfinished projects can reshape social and political life while being in the making and explore how incrementally evolving projects rely on promissory notes, causing aspirations and anxieties, yet developing political, material, and affective significance. The opening of existing migration databases such as Eurodac for law enforcement access is already in operation. The inclusion of the law enforcement database system Prüm into the interoperability project is planned and foreseen with the Prüm 2 update. I explore two temporal configurations of the interoperability project: delays and infrastructural obfuscation on the one hand and disconnected temporalities as multiplicity of expansions on the other hand, and their substantive impacts on the criminalization of migrants and migration. I conclude by calling for infrastructural accountability confronting the temporal aspects of obfuscation.https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251359227 |
| spellingShingle | Nina Amelung The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration Big Data & Society |
| title | The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration |
| title_full | The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration |
| title_fullStr | The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration |
| title_full_unstemmed | The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration |
| title_short | The promise of security of unfinished infrastructure: Temporal configurations of the ‘interoperability’ project and the criminalization of migration |
| title_sort | promise of security of unfinished infrastructure temporal configurations of the interoperability project and the criminalization of migration |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517251359227 |
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