ABSTRACT
The squatter-migrant made its debut in the British press during 2010-12, conspicuously close to a public conversation on whether or not squatting should be made a criminal offence. It would therefore appear that the invention of the migrant-squatter is at least an ambiguous move. By suspecting both the migrant and the squatter of being invaders who must be contained and/or kept out, this discourse serves to re-enforce their status as socially dead and thus not worthy of moral consideration. Where mass homelessness and poverty among fellow citizens would likely spark public moral outrage, if it is only social or literal outsiders who suffer, then the problem, ergo, is not that great. However, the discourse of the migrant-squatter also points toward the fear held consciously or unconsciously that those excluded from the community of value could one day cease to take their status lying down.
