Although Schengen countries are facing a complex reality in the current era of globalization, migration and cross-border crimes, it is of vital importance to beware of the process of crimmigration: the merger of crime control and immigration control and hence the underlying assumption that criminals and migrants are interchangeable groups.
Political and public debates about border control seem to be increasingly fueled by ever growing fears and concerns about various transnational “threats” such as mass migration, cross-border crime and terrorism. As a result, these debates are often politicized and emotional, only further feeding into the already negative sentiments. Other than observing this from the side-line, it is important for academics and scholars studying these and related phenomena to actively participate in these debates and provide some much-needed reflection and nuance.
In June 2017, the Court of Justice for the EU issued a decision on the activities the German Bundespolizei was deploying in the French-German border area. Were these activities Schengen-proof police checks or permanent border checks in disguise?
