Borders, Privilege and Scapegoating. Author: Summer Darwent

What are borders?

Borders are a social entity, which have been gradually illustrated through history, created by the social values of a community. These are ‘imagined communities’ (Anderson 2016) formed by a common consensus within a community whereby follow the same rules, laws, values and beliefs- not everyone must know each other, but is a part of the same community by consequence of living within a specific boarder. However, borders have been used as an instrument of exclusion throughout history. This perimeter of social entity then defines who belongs within and who doesn’t, creating ‘ingroups’ which are identified as “those entitled to the privileges and responsibilities of citizenship or community membership” (Osuna 2022, p. 205) and consequentially ‘outgroups’ – “those who belong to other communities and could be potentially hostile and threaten the in-groups” (Osuna 2022, p. 205). This has therefore created an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ narrative. A strong example of this is seen through the Mexican border into the USA. The historical marginalization of Mexican migration into the US, patrolled by the US immigration laws and ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) who have contributed to the mass illegality of Mexican civilians from entering the USA (Castañeda, 2019). Although borders through the world are seen as symbolic (Sibley 1995, p. 14),in 2016, President Trump of the USA, declared he would go a step further creating a boarder by physically building a concrete barrier to separate the two countries from one another, in order to stop the illegal immigrants and the illegal drug market from crossing one boarder to the other. However, this has brought unfair and radical treatment toward those from the Mexican population. Xenophobia is a term which is used to describe the hatred and mistrust of those who are perceived as different, and President Trump has illustrated immigrants as posing a threat to the US. As a President his comments and commands are extremely influential and has therefore opened the door to explicit racism within the public discourse, through the media as well as politics. The question we should be asking one another is, how can it be socially acceptable that a border can define how we treat one another?

Privilege

Borders not only function as a line of separation, but also a systematic ideology of privilege. Privilege is held within the rights we are born with. This in enforced through policies – passports, visas and citizenships are the crucial ways our belonging can be determined and monitored. Boarder asymmetries refer to the disparities within border development, with a large focus on the unequal outcomes that can arise on either side of a boarder (Karacan 2025 pp 3-4). The UK, as a western society we hold the ability to move freely, our passports are deemed as powerful in comparison to those who live within less powerful nations; for example, the Afghanistan passport is deemed the weakest due to their political instability, only providing them visa free/ visa on arrival access to twenty-four countries (Henley & Partners, 2025). As consequence of the Taliban taking over in 2021, their nation undermines diplomatic trust and therefore results in its citizens having limited access to grant a visa. This places many detriments on their health, especially in times of seeking refuge during war. Importantly, refugee-hood is based on circumstance, not an inherent identity; determined by the arbitrary accident of birthplace as well as birth-time. This system enforces safety as a privilege and not a right, treating refugees as if they are the root of the issue, accordingly, being criminalised when entering a boarder.

Scapegoating

The UK protests in 2025 have importantly reflected the marginalisation of those who belong outside the boarder of the UK. These protests were formed by ani-immigration narratives and focused on targeting asylum seeker hotels- framing those who don’t ‘belong’ in the UK. It’s important to discover where these narratives have arisen from, as immigration has become a rising concern within the UK over recent years. The introduction of the Reform political party, led by Nigel Farage, is exploiting fears around attacks on women to encourage hate against migrant communities (Colbert, 2025). Their Policy’s only focus on cracking down on the criminal behaviour of immigration, rather than focus on the part English nationals play within these statistics. Data shows that in 2021 to 2023; 77 Afghans were convicted in sexual offences compared to 14,270 convicted from the UK (Dunford, 2025). Refugees have become a target of misinformation and greater criminalisation within the UK, as Farage is campaigning using the same tactics as Trump’s election campaign. Causing fear through crime statistics, overcrowded housing and the loss of jobs, as consequence of immigration has fed into that ‘us vs them’ narrative. Farage has used rhetoric which blurs the lines of political debating and scapegoating, framing refugees, who are some of the most vulnerable people in the world, into symbols of national decline, creating a national hostile environment. Now the question is asked, what can you do to contribute to overcoming this issue? We need to rebuild a sense of us within our communities. Instead of blaming immigration we need to educate ourselves on the causes and consequences of refuge and immigration, and the good things it provides us as a nation, rather than focus on the negatives. As we have been brought up with endless rights and mobility, we can be naive to the impacts it has on others. We are together, not divided.

References

Anderson, B. 2016. Imagined communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. New York: Verso.

Castañeda, H. 2019. Borders of Belonging. Struggle and Solidarity in Mixed-status Immigrant Families. Stanford University Press.

Colbert, M. 2025. Dodgy Statistics and fringe beliefs: the groups behind reform’s anti-migrant agenda. Good Law Project. Available at: https://goodlawproject.org/dodgy-statistics-and-fringe-beliefs-the-groups-behind-reforms-anti-migrant-agenda/ [Accessed: 29/10/2025]

Dunford, D. 2025. Fact-checking Farage: Are foreigners more likely than Britons to commit sexual offences?. Sky News. Available at: https://news.sky.com/story/fact-checking-farage-are-foreigners-more-likely-than-britons-to-commit-sexual-offences-13407029 [Accessed: 29/10/2025]

Henley & Partners. 2025. Global Passport Ranking: The Henley Passport Index. Available at: https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking [Accessed: 24/10/2025]

Karacan, E. 2025. Mobility injustice and agency: Confronting boarder asymmetries in cross-border commuting under COVID-19 re-bordering policies’. Mobilities, pp. 1-16. doi: 10.1080/17450101.2025.2498754.

Osuna, J. J. O. 2022. Populism and Borders: Tools for Constructing “The People” and Legitimizing Exclusion, Journal of Borderlands Studies, 39(2), pp. 203–226. doi: 10.1080/08865655.2022.2085140.

Sibley, D. 1995. Geographies of Exclusion: Society and the difference in the west. London. Routledge