Migration control policies not only cause death among people on the move, they also result in them being left to die. Under necropolitics, the lives of certain groups are viewed as dispensable and their bodies are disregarded: this is the case of sub-Saharan Africans and Moroccans especially. This institutional racism, whereby no effort is spared when it comes to saving white Westerners but calls for help from people migrating from the Global South are ignored, is more than an ideology – it is a business. Research into the implementation of policies to externalise the borders and dissuade migration prove this.

There is clear collusion between states, arms and security companies and criminal networks. Sales of weapons lead to people’s displacement and militarisation on migration routes to stop them moving is the second part of a lucrative business. Meanwhile, dangerous migration routes give a boost to criminal organisations, who portray themselves as ‘facilitators’ helping migrant people to overcome the obstacles in their path. Detention, deportation, torture, sexual assault, kidnapping and murder are all lucrative forms of violence that affect people who decide to move and represent a source of revenue for states, arms and security companies and criminal networks.