Systemic dehumanisation of migrants: Pope critiques global border regimes and racialised exclusion
Original framing: “Pope decries migrants and refugees being treated ‘worse than house pets’” — Al Jazeera
Migrant-led movements, such as the *Undocumented Workers Movement* or *No Borders* collectives, centre their own narratives and demands, challenging state violence. These voices are systematically excluded from mainstream media, which privileges institutional actors like the Pope. The framing also erases the role of Black and Indigenous migrants in resisting border regimes, instead centring Western moral authorities. True systemic change requires amplifying these marginalised perspectives and their solutions.
The Pope’s critique of migrant dehumanisation exposes a moral failure in global border regimes, but the systemic roots of this violence lie in colonial legacies, racial capitalism, and neoliberal policies that treat mobility as a privilege rather than a right.
Historical analysis reveals that borders have always been tools of exclusion, from the 1920s U.S. Immigration Act to Australia’s White Australia Policy, now repackaged as 'national security.' Cross-cultural perspectives highlight how Indigenous and Global South traditions of hospitality are systematically erased by Western legal frameworks, while migrant-led movements offer radical alternatives rooted in autonomy and care. A scientific approach underscores how border militarisation fails to deter migration while increasing deaths, instead serving to regulate labour and maintain racial hierarchies. Future modelling suggests that without dismantling these structures, climate displacement will exacerbate inequality, necessitating open borders and climate reparations. True systemic change requires centring marginalised voices, dismantling racialised laws, and investing in community-based hospitality—moving beyond moral appeals to material transformation.