The European Union's Politics of Migration Control Technologies

This article critically examines the European Union's (EU) politics of migration control technologies, focusing on how the contested concept of digital sovereignty alongside rising anti-immigration sentiment shape their development and deployment. Drawing on interviews with EU officials and contributing to the growing literature on this increasingly salient topic, the article explores the politics surrounding the development of migration control technologies, which range from biometric systems to AI-driven migration forecasting tools and sentiment analysis. It argues that the EU’s pursuit of digital sovereignty—framed both as a means of asserting control over data and technological infrastructure and as an effort to exercise control through technological solutions—intersects with a broader securitisation of migration, reflecting and reinforcing exclusionary policies from both the EU Commission and Member States. These dynamics have profound implications for fundamental rights, accountability and the governance of migration at the EU's external borders. By shedding light on the decision-making processes underlying these technologies, the article highlights the tensions between innovation, security and the EU’s self-identification as a normative power and a bastion of human rights.