CINETS 2026: Crimmigration in an Age of Authoritarian Drift

About the conference           
In collaboration with Border Criminologies, the Crimmigration Control International Network of Studies (CINETS) organizes its seventh bi-annual conference, hosted at Leiden Law School. This year's edition centers on the theme: Crimmigration in an Age of Authoritarian Drift. In recent years, the fusion of criminal law and immigration enforcement—commonly termed crimmigration—has intensified across the globe. Amid rising authoritarianism, democratic erosion, and far-right populism, migration has become both a symbolic and material battleground for nationalist politics. This conference explores how crimmigration operates as a tool of governance and political performance in democratic, hybrid, and authoritarian settings. Both academic and artistic perspectives are included in the conference to create dialogue across disciplines and methods. 

Conference Keynote speakers: 

• Professor Vanessa Barker, Stockholm University, Sweden 

• Professor Leti Volpp, UC Berkeley, USA 

• Professor Witold Klaus, Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences / Centre of Migration Studies at Warsaw University, Poland 

• Professor Eduardo Domenech, Córdoba National University, Argentina 

• Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Chair in Global Law, Queen Mary University of London, UK / Global South Visiting Scholar, Princeton University, USA 

• Dr. Jasmin Lilian Diab, Assistant Professor of Migration Studies, Lebanese American University

• Tendai John Mutambu, writer, editor, and curator  
   

Target audience
We welcome interdisciplinary academics from legal, social, political, and cultural perspectives, including but not limited to: migration and asylum law, criminal law, criminology, political science, sociology, anthropology, international relations, socio-legal studies, history, human geography, and critical race/postcolonial theory. We also encourage individuals who engage with arts-based research, activist scholarship, Indigenous epistemologies, and community-based knowledge production.

Do you have any questions? 
We will gladly answer them. 

E-mail: events@law.leidenuniv.nl 
Phone: +31 (0)71 527 8666 
All contact details  

The fee includes: 
Welcome reception in the evening of 5 July and thematic documentary screening, warm lunches on 6 and 7 July, coffee and tea breaks throughout the conference and a goodie bag.
In case of dietary requirements, please send an email to inform the organization. 

Extra option: pay € 60 extra to join the dinner on Sunday/Monday

In case you cancel your participation we are able to (partially) reimburse your conference fee until May 31st, 2026.