Book Review: Activism and the Detention of Migrants: The Law and Politics of Immigration Detention 

Guest post by Sarah Hamilton-Jiang, Independent Legal Migration Research Consultant. Sarah’s research centers on international human rights law, migration and racial justice. With almost fifteen years of international experience, she has worked across sectors and disciplines including international development, grassroots and community peacebuilding, and human and civil rights law, using interdisciplinary methods to address inequality.   

Review of: Activism and the Detention of Migrants: The Law and Politics of Immigration Detention by Tom Kemp (Routledge, 2023) 

Between 2018-2019 I volunteered with The New Sanctuary Coalition, a grassroots immigrant organisation and social movement based in New York City. As a legal migration scholar, I was keen to align myself with organisations whose principles embodied the type of activism that centred the power of immigrants, and could also contribute to substantive legal change for immigrants. I volunteered in the immigration court accompaniment program in the hope that I could support fellow migrants on a human level—and inform my research as a migration scholar.  

In reading Kemp’s Activism and the Detention of Migrants, I was reminded of many of the practices and underlying philosophies of migrant activism that I witnessed while volunteering with The New Sanctuary Coalition. Throughout his book, Kemp refers to many of these philosophies and practices—most critically those that prioritise challenging systemic power structures and elevating migrants themselves. This is a distinct departure from more traditional legal or policy oriented forms of migrant activism. I was therefore immediately drawn to one of the stated goals of the book—the elucidation of a new theory of radical activism in order to bridge the gap between traditional and necessary forms of migrant activism, and the humanity (or in many cases the inhumanity) of the migrant experience.  

The book is structured very well. From the outset Kemp is clear about what it is and what it is not. The book does not profess to contribute to legal outcomes or legal strategies for migrants. Nor does it claim to be a book about the migrant experience, or migrant activists themselves, though their stories do feature throughout. Rather, it is an analysis of a radical theory of migrant activism based upon the current state of detention in the United Kingdom. Indeed, the clear articulation and organisation of the theories in this book is one of its greatest strengths, allowing readers to understand the complexities behind social movements and their intended outcomes.  

The book begins with a summary of the history of detention laws and detention activism in the United Kingdom. Kemp then proceeds to conceptualise post-representational politics as:  

“A distinct political imaginary that places emphasis on the temporal and spatial immediate, on capacities and tacit skills of collaboration, and on the micropolitics and power dynamics of working together. In doing so, post-representation removes the emphasis on activism that mediates between (state) power and those that experience (state violence). Moreover, the post-representational foregrounds the ability of those who have experiences of oppression, persecution and detention, speaking on their own behalf.” (p.88).  

Put more simply, “post-representational politics” is a layered theory that takes an embodied, horizontal approach to activism. It seeks to re-distribute power in migrant activism, placing migrants themselves as the central actors and in turn empowering migrants as agents of their own emancipation. Based on his own experiences supporting, observing, and documenting migrant activism in detention in the United Kingdom, Kemp continues his book by analysing different approaches to migrant detention activism that embody post-representational politics. These include protests both inside and outside detention, detention visiting, and witnessing. He concludes by addressing questions of accountability and affinity. 

Kemp is clear about the limitations of post-representational politics, two of which are covered here. First, he notes that post-representational politics must operate alongside representational politics—a more traditional approach to migrant activism that centres hard outcomes (such as substantive legal or policy changes) but in turn shifts power away from migrants themselves. A complete rejection of representational politics would render the very necessary outcomes of detention release and policy change unachievable. Second, it is particularly telling hearing the self-evaluative earnest accounts of volunteers who embraced post-representational politics in their individual activism. In doing so, Kemp reveals another critical quandary of post-representational politics: how individuals and/or group volunteers are expected to engage with this level of activism practically, emotionally, and sustainably. 

As a critical legal theorist, I found the socio-political theory to be slightly dense. With lighter theorization, the book could appeal to a broader audience. Yet there is power in the articulation and clear elucidation of a theory of activism that could radically transform migrant detention in ways yet to be seen. In addition, Kemp’s clear articulation of local approaches to activism that draw from a decentralised philosophy could help produce a playbook for activists in other countries, contributing to more globally coordinated efforts in migrant detention activism. Indeed, reflecting on my experiences in New York City, Kemp’s thesis could provide great insight to the work of global legal empowerment and immigrant justice movements such as Justice Power, a network convened by New York University Law School’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights. 

Overall, Kemp’s book is a thorough and compelling analysis. Kemp successfully advances a thesis contributing towards the study, practice, and evolution of social movements and migrant activism. The very nature of post-representational politics provides space for radical, imaginative, emancipatory, and sustainable approaches to migrant detention activism, yet Kemp is not naive to its challenges. While theory-heavy, ultimately Kemp achieves a difficult task—elevating the book from a purely theoretical thesis to one that humanises migrants and gives voice to the migrant activist movement.  

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