Securitising Crimmigration: Locating ‘enemy crimmigrants’ at the nexus of criminal, immigration and security domains

In late 2023, Australia's High Court overturned longstanding precedent allowing indefinite immigration detention. In response, both major political parties launched an alarmist narrative about the exceptional threat posed by the 92 non-citizens, dubbed the NZYQ cohort, who were due for immediate release. This article details how this disparate group of non-citizens came to be considered an unmitigated threat to Australian society and were met with extraordinary containment measures. We argue that the novel treatment of the NZYQ cohort, and other non-deportable detainees who followed, represents a significant ramping up of the state's exclusionary efforts that cannot be adequately captured within either a crimmigration or securitisation framework. Incorporating the language and law of national security/war into a longstanding crimmigration regime, we introduce a hybrid theoretical framing of ‘enemy crimmigration’ to characterise this trend. Australia's willingness to enact extraordinary measures and abandon conventional constraints raises the spectre of a ‘preventive state’.