St. Thomas Law Review
First Page
462
Document Type
Article
Abstract
In this article, I examine the significance of Blackwater's move to the border and its recent post 9/11 involvement in immigration control. I argue that Blackwater is symbolic of a much larger immigration industrial complex, privatizing decades of border militarization and low intensity conflict that, as author Tim Dunn has documented, has been waged against border crossers and residents since the 1970s. I also argue that Blackwater is part of a post-9/11 neo-liberal regime that is designed to re-territorialize and privatize the war on terror on the domestic front. Finally, I contend that the immigration industrial complex, with Blackwater quickly taking the lead, figures prominently in what Naomi Klein refers to as neo-liberal shock therapy, which is undemocratic to its core. In Section II, I introduce the basic argument for Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine. In Section III, I examine how immigration law provides a supporting infrastructure for privatization. In Section IV, I examine the immigration industrial complex in the context of Klein's thesis.
Recommended Citation
Robert Koulish,
Blackwater and the Privatization of Immigration Control,
20
St. Thomas L. Rev.
462
(2008).
Available at:
https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol20/iss3/4