Migrant reception centres and coercive social control: rule by legal uncertainty?

Large-scale accommodation for refugees and migrants is often approached from a humanitarian angle, examining the reception conditions on the ground. However, scholars have long shown how such care-providing spaces are also sites of social control. A close examination of the legal framework of an accommodation centre for migrants in Spain, the CETI of Melilla, finds that beyond the content of the law, it is also necessary to examine the nature of the laws framing refugee camps to understand how social control is exerted. While hard law provides a vague legal basis, the reception centre is primarily governed by a patch-work of rapidly evolving soft law emanating primarily from the executive branch. Social control in the form of coercion is facilitated by the law, but not in the form of a strong punitive legal framework, as may be expected. Instead, an effective restriction of the rights of residents is enabled through legal uncertainty.