Disturbing Intimacies: The Pathopolitical Governance of Mixed-Status Families in Times of Return

In Denmark, many illegalised migrants are subjected to open-ended detention at ‘departure centres.’ Based on qualitative data collected during 2017–2022, this article examines instances where detention leads to the separation of mixed-immigration status families. Drawing on concepts of deportability, detainability and in/visibility, the article argues that departure centres constitute a border spectacle that simultaneously renders people hyper-visible as ‘illegal,’ unattached individuals about to depart and invisibilises them as parents and spouses. The analysis shows that detention in departure centres disturbs rather than interrupts intimate relations, and enables mixed-status families to resist separation through tactics of travelling on, moving nearby, or commuting. These tactics produced by the return system increase the vulnerability of illegalised migrants and amplify the pain of deportability. In this paper, I propose the term ‘pathopolitics’ to enable the description and analysis of the power directed at illegalised refugees and migrants in and beyond Denmark. I argue that the practise of separating families should be understood as one of several pathopolitical power techniques used to induce return. This practise works through temporal and spatial measures and inflicts high human costs on illegalised migrants and their families.