MPI Report: Emerging Transatlantic Security Dilemmas in Border Management

The sheer volume of global travel puts border management systems under constant pressure. Even as the number of international tourist arrivals worldwide surged from 69 million in 1960 to 687 million four decades later, border management systems have had to contend with additional risks associated with these movements. Mass-casualty terrorist attacks, rising illegal immigration, and human trafficking have exposed weaknesses in states’ ability to manage their borders effectively. As a result, the last decade has seen huge government investments to implement new border management frameworks and collaborate across borders to accomplish several competing aims: the facilitation of legitimate travel and trade, the prevention of terrorism and transnational criminality, and reductions in illegal migration flows.

In Emerging Transatlantic Security Dilemmas in Border Management, Migration Policy Institute European Policy Fellow Elizabeth Collett examines the infrastructure and policy developments – and challenges – that have occurred in recent years on both sides of the Atlantic. While these policy challenges strongly resonate in both Europe and the United States, their nature and prioritization differ. For the United States, the preoccupation with preventing another terrorist attack has led to a seemingly all-consuming pursuit of securing its borders by all means available. For European governments, ensuring the integrity of external EU borders to prevent irregular migration and promote intra-EU mobility adds an additional complexity, and multilateral collaboration has been a major innovative feature of border management.

KJ