The societal narrative of the immigrant “threat” and the securitization of “external” migration to Fortress Europe

Abstract

This study analyzes the construction of the refuge-terrorism nexus during the Syrian crisis in 2015, despite the terrorist attacks at the time being carried out by Europeans of immigrant origin from third-countries to the European Union, with emphasis on the selective treatment given to those from the Geopolitical South. To this end, a bibliographical review was first conducted on the immigrant “threat”. This is because, as the external borders of the Schengen Area were fortified in favor of internal free movement, the societal narrative of the so-called “Fortress Europe” established an “identity border” between “us” and the “other” in the collective imagination. Continuously, through a qualitative approach, using bibliographical research that sought to promote the dialogue of analytical, historical and theoretical texts, the influence of the societal narrative of the immigrant “threat” on the construction of the refuge-terrorism nexus in the European Union in 2015 was analyzed. As a result, the securitization of “external” migration to Fortress Europe was pointed out in order to protect internal security, at a supranational level, in Schengen.