How automation is changing asylum decision-making and contestation in the Netherlands and EU

Partners: Tilburg University & Utrecht University
Type: PhD
Duration: 2023—2026

Project description

Migration regimes in the Global North, influenced by political administrations, sustain historical disparities between citizens and individuals from formerly colonized nations. These regimes are upheld by institutions, infrastructures, and legal frameworks that restrict movement, legal identity, and political representation, often labeling individuals as security risks or illegal immigrants. Within migration and asylum management, ostensibly neutral institutions and policies impose borders on migrants' lives, perpetuating colonial, racial, patriarchal, and exploitative practices. Advanced statistical technologies, introduced for efficiency and modernization, further reinforce these unjust infrastructures and institutional frameworks. Automated decision-making systems play a pivotal role in identifying asylum seekers, assessing claim credibility, guiding decisions, and conducting risk assessments. This research project aims to scrutinize the migration regimes of the Netherlands and Germany through ethnographic methods, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. Specifically, we aim to discern how the implementation of automated decision-making systems in European asylum and migration management processes perpetuates or transforms historical systemic violence against migrants from postcolonial contexts.

Main research question of this project is:

- How are European asylum and migration management systems implementing automated decision-making systems in the asylum management processes and how do these technologies reproduce or transform the historical systemic violence against migrants from postcolonial contexts?

Secondary research questions are:

- How does colonial violence translate into contemporary forms of administrative violence against migrants from postcolonial contexts in Germany and the Netherlands?

- How do the Netherlands and Germany integrate Automated Decision-making Systems in their asylum administration processes, including identification, processing, risk assessment, and credibility assessment?

- What are the discourses, logics, and economic interests that promote asylum management authorities and policy authorities implementing these technologies?

- How are the ADS being procured for the asylum management systems in the Netherlands and Germany?

- To what extent do automated decision-making systems in the European asylum system impact migrants from postcolonial contexts?

- Under what conditions could ADS be made contestable and what is the legality or justice of probabilistic decisions in the migration realm?

To address these questions, the research will employ a qualitative study design, utilizing participant observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. Researchers will conduct participant observation at technology and border control conferences in Europe, focusing on the use of automated decision-making systems in administrative procedures and stakeholder interactions. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with key stakeholders, including policymakers, migration officials, civil society representatives, and legal experts, to explore their perspectives on these systems and their implications for migrants' rights and legal frameworks. Relevant documents, such as government reports, policy documents, legal frameworks, technical specifications of automated decision-making systems, and academic literature, will be analysed to provide additional insights into the legal, technical, and socio-political dimensions of these systems in migration management.

The expected outputs of this research include contributions to discussions on transparency, accountability, and legality in the use of automated decision-making systems in asylum systems. Ultimately, the findings aim to inform policy development and advocacy efforts aimed at safeguarding migrants' rights and promoting fairness and justice within migration governance frameworks.

This research project contributes to the overarching research questions of AlgoSoc by examining how automated decision-making systems reconfigure the justice system's ability to ensure access to justice, particularly for migrants from postcolonial contexts. Through case studies on migration and asylum courts, the project investigates the effects of AI-driven decision-making on established procedures, organizational arrangements, and checks and balances, thereby shedding light on the broader implications for safeguarding public values and institutional legitimacy within the justice system.