ABSTRACT
The refugee women talked a great deal about wanting to depart Malta and go to other EU member states and the US. The securitization of migration has played a key role in transforming Malta into a borderland for transnational migrant subjects waiting to exit and migrate onwards. From Malta, a process of selective and targeted re-bordering takes place, which either propels irregular migrants on to other countries or confines them to the island, where the only option is to remain in indefinite limbo or use extra-legal means to exit. Some of the participants in this study left Malta for other member states, only to be returned and punished upon re-entry, sometimes more than once. This cycle of departure, rejection and containment disrupted the women’s strategic decisions about onward migration and their access to family, support networks and refugee determination procedures in other member states. And this cycle has acute gendered dimensions for the women participants in this study.
