A Question of Dangerous Races?

Europe has moved toward more repressive immigration laws and enforcement measures. In this article I argue that the intensifying policing of national borders has created state-sanctioned practices of targeting particular immigrant groups, based on race, gender and national origin. I examine the discourse of criminality, particularly notions of immigrant criminality that shapes the lives of documented and undocumented immigrants in Italy. I demonstrate that there is an increasing culture of suspicion, hostility and criminalization of immigrants, and particularly African women, in Italy.