Given the growing concern about terrorists and ex-combatants going undercover in mixed migration flows crossing borders, immigration agencies are increasingly being drawn into the structure of the intelligence function of States. They either retain their independence or become merged into super security/border protection agencies (for instance, the Department of Homeland Security in the United States and the Australian Department of Home Affairs). Accompanying this merging of government entities is a trend for domestic and foreign intelligence agencies of a State to blend their functions.
Immigration intelligence systems
Glossary
migration intelligence
Migration intelligence is derived from a systematic analysis of migration data and operational information. Not all migration intelligence is threat based. A major part of intelligence can be opportunity based and used to support areas of migration and border management, including policies on labour migration, migration health or the development of bilateral or multilateral agreements.
Source
IOM, 2019.
Image / Video
Source
IOM/Francesco Malavolta, 2015.
In the context of migration management, the threat-based intelligence system is a useful model for managing irregular migration and curbing the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons. However, migration management also relies on opportunity-based intelligence to inform areas of migration management that include policies on migration health or labour migration. For example, anticipating the demographic or other pressures that will influence the movement of skilled labour so that appropriate immigration and integration policies can be developed (see Regulating the quantity of migrant workers). This focus for analysis also enables a State to respond, bilaterally or multilaterally, to sudden displacements of population, or to dramatic increases in the numbers of persons seeking international protection.
Intelligence incorporates operational data already being collected and analysed on a continuous basis through a structured and systematic process. This is in addition to information collected by other entities within the government, including intelligence agencies, as well as information collected by other governments and non-governmental sources, such as airlines. The overarching purpose of migration intelligence is to ensure that decisions are made on a well-informed basis, using current technologies, for instance by relying on automation and artificial intelligence for monitoring, managing risks and visa processing. Intelligent immigration processing solutions can however present some issues and require comprehensive safeguards and data privacy standards to protect migrants’ rights and dignity.
Example
Australia’s Movement Alert List
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs administered the Movement Alert List (MAL), which is a computer database storing biographic details and travel documents of concern. MAL contains a list of individuals who have serious criminal records, health concerns, debts owed to the Government, adverse immigration records and/or for other reasons might constitute a risk to the community and people of Australia. Moreover, the list included approximately one million reported lost, stolen or fraudulent travel documents.
MAL is used to regulate the entry of non-citizens and their presence in Australia. Individuals listed in MAL are subject to exclusion periods prescribed by the country’s migration legislation. MAL can also be used in visa processing at an overseas post, at regional offices throughout the country, or by a travel agent/airline on behalf of a client who wishes to apply for either an electronic travel authority (ETA) or an eVisitor visa. If a match is recorded, the applicant’s visa might not be granted.
Source
Australian Border Force, 2019.
No country can address threats that are multinational in nature on its own. States increasingly acknowledge the need to collect and share information and migration intelligence with different interested parties. Doing so can facilitate regional cooperation in addressing migration and border management issues, and the development and harmonization of common policy. There are still gaps in the networks of cooperation, between governments as well as in the realm of public/private partnerships, although the gaps are narrowing. For example, airlines and travel agencies are increasingly involved with government entities in screening for valid travel and/or identity documents to speed processing at entry and exit points through passenger name records (PNR), advance passenger information (API), and other recent developments in biometric technology (see Pre-inspection measures).
Migration data collection, management and intelligence gathering at points of entry (POE) can greatly contribute to the development of risk analyses. As such, activities at the border can help verify and validate assumptions that ultimately inform countries’ risk management strategies and improve their border management practices and migration policies. For instance, data collection activities at POE, in compliance with national data protection legislation and established international standards, can determine how to effectively deploy limited resources and shape future policy decisions (see also Data collection, analysis and research on migrant smuggling).
Policy Approaches
Incorporating intelligence into daily operations at points of entry
- Strengthen the intelligence capacity of border officials to enable the identification of false, forged, falsified, substituted or otherwise non-genuine documents, as well as the recognition of passport and identity fraud.
- Collect operational data relating to persons stopped and denied entry/exit, for instance on grounds of criminality, for having overstayed or entered through fraudulent means.
- Work closely with transportation carriers, such as truck/bus drivers, airlines and boat operators to collect valuable information about the routes used by smugglers.
- Establish and maintain links with a range of intelligence gathering and law enforcement agencies to promote information sharing.
- Equip frontline border officials with the know-how to gather intelligence, analyse data, create evidence-based risk profiles, as well as with interviewing techniques, case working methods and report writing skills.
Risk-based border management
Risk analysis allows governments to decide the risk level of a traveller or intending migrant. Data collection and intelligence gathering are the foundation of risk analysis that ultimately shapes a country’s border management. States consider various risk factors such as country of origin, age, gender, health, statistical trends concerning overstays or criminal activity and abuse of visa conditions. The risk analysis to develop actionable intelligence requires combining identity, travel and other data, which are typically also checked against a watchlist containing individuals, groups or items that require close surveillance, as well as those of interest to border guards. In this regard, the identification of travellers informs (and is informed) by risk assessment.
Policy Approaches
Designing and implementing proper risk identification, analysis and management
- An overall management strategy should address risks holistically, rather than with a loose patchwork of plans from various agency sections or teams.
- An immigration intelligence unit should be established that not only analyses irregular migration trends and data for use within the agency, but also contributes to the work of the broader intelligence community of the country.
- Using algorithmic programs and technology in risk-based border management is considered to be less biased than direct human analysis.
- Risk analysis should not be based on discriminatory criteria. To be meaningful, it should be future oriented, focusing on tomorrow’s risk rather than yesterday’s threats.
- Comprehensive risk management strategies should be based on data and intelligence related not only to daily border crossings, but also to trafficking in persons and smuggling in migrants as well as health risks, including pandemics/infectious diseases.
- Risk assessment at borders should be balanced with the need to keep borders open and as easy to cross as possible.
To Go Further
- Greenfield, C. (Migration Policy Institute), As governments build advanced surveillance systems to push borders out, will travel and migration become unequal for some groups?, 2020.
- International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), TRIP Guide on Border Control Management, Part 2: Assessment Tool, 2018.
- ICAO, TRIP Guide on Border Control Management, Version 1, Draft 4, 2017.
This document provides many scopes of assessment that include all matters of concern to the State, such as criminal, security, biosecurity and public health risks and threats.
Border management innovations should be routine, not just a temporary improvement in an agency’s performance that might be followed by larger setbacks (for instance, when an emergency response task force is dismantled after a cross-border crisis). When innovative procedures, institutional arrangements, mechanisms, and other interventions that have proven effective are systematized, they ensure continuous and consistent agency improvement.
Table
Table 1. New trends in border management
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DATA MINING |
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NON-INSTRUSIVE INSPECTION |
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IDENTITY AUTHENTICATION |
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MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE |
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The International Criminal Police Organization
As one of the world’s largest intergovernmental organizations, The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) facilitates international cooperation amongst police services. Its headquarters in Lyon, France manages a secure global telecommunications system for conveying information about the identity of suspects and criminals involved in international activities. As a result, INTERPOL analysts have considerable raw information to determine world crime trends. The source of that information comes from Member States, and limits can be placed on which other Member States can see that material.
Member States typically coordinate their interactions with INTERPOL through liaison units in special branches of national police forces. However, these interactions increasingly involve immigration and border management officials, given the interest in monitoring transnational organized crimes, such as smuggling and trafficking of persons. Manufacturing false identity documents and travel documents also threatens the integrity of border control and management globally. For this reason, police services are increasingly working closely with immigration services, particularly in providing background information when assessing the legitimacy of visa and asylum applications, or in compiling watchlists.
Policy Approaches
Working with the International Criminal Police Organization
- Merge International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) data sources with border management information systems (BMIS), including data on the movement of people (entry, exit, transit) together with stolen and missing passports and other data that might be of particular interest.
- Update manually operated immigration systems with centralized and interconnected systems that can communicate from points of entry (POE) to headquarters as well as to overseas missions. Ideally, the systems should be equipped with biometric capability that operate with real time connections and can be accessed by remote units, so that border officers in the field can check they data they gather against the central database.
- Abandon the “silo mentality,” that is, avoid having agencies keep their databases separate from those of other agencies.
- Firewalls between certain databases (such as health and justice) and law enforcement may be necessary in order to ensure that migrants, including irregular migrants, have access to their rights.
To Go Further
- International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), I-24/7, 2020.
This global police communications system connects law enforcement officers in Member States. It enables authorized users to share sensitive and urgent police information with their counterparts around the globe, enabling investigators to access INTERPOL criminal databases and cross-check data in a matter of seconds, with direct access to databases on suspected criminals or wanted persons, stolen and lost travel documents (passports), stolen motor vehicles, fingerprints, DNA profiles, stolen administrative documents and stolen works of art. - IOM, Passport Examination Procedure Manual, 2016.
This manual offers detailed training on how to examine passports and travel documents, including the use of standard document examination equipment (that is, basic magnification devices, readers, ultraviolet lights). - IOM, Document Examination Laboratory Manual for the Immigration Environment (DELMIE), 2017b.
This manual provides further information on more complex devices such as spectrometers, cameras, and microscopes. These devices are deployed at the second line and at forensic laboratories to generate evidence for investigation and prosecution purposes. - IOM, Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), n.d.
This system can generate many useful reports for management, operational and planning purposes. These include staff productivity reports showing the number of passengers processed by each operator, the processing decisions made, daily reports on the numbers arriving and departing, individual movements and similar information.
Surveillance technology
Physical inspections and foot patrols are not the only ways borders are kept under surveillance today. Governments are utilizing technological advances to monitor their borders, including tools such as seismic and infrared sensors, unmanned aerial devices (“drones”), satellite imagery and remote sensing microphones. Such sophisticated border surveillance technology dates back to the 1970s, but its density and use have significantly increased. The range of electromagnetic radiation in surveillance has widened; drones carry surveillance cameras over the boundary; high-resolution cameras capture images from high towers; military satellites also provide support. Another critical advancement is the use of integrated information systems that combine multiple data inputs from these multiple detection tools (Heyman, 2008).
With sophisticated border technology comes costs. Expenditure dedicated to border management and homeland security has increased in all phases, from the design through to the implementation of new surveillance systems and their maintenance. As well, technology can become obsolete without constant updates (Papademetriou and Collett, 2011). For this reason, more and more governments are considering terminating their electronic border surveillance systems due to the relatively high costs and low effectiveness in carrying out the mission. What has been observed, on the other hand, is an increase in pre-arrival measures, including collecting data on international travellers before they arrive at the border (see Pre-inspection measures).
Key messages
- Migration intelligence is derived from a systematic analysis of migration data and operational information. Not all migration intelligence is threat based. A major part of intelligence can be opportunity based and used to support areas of migration and border management, including policies on labour migration, migration health or the development of bilateral or multilateral agreements.
- No country can address threats that are multinational in nature on its own. Sharing intelligence across borders, therefore, is in each country’s best interest.
- Data collection activities at points of entry (POE) can help verify and validate assumptions that ultimately inform a country’s risk management strategies and improve its border management practices and migration policies.
- Immigration and border authorities are increasingly working with police services, including the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL). In particular, they work together by providing background information when assessing the legitimacy of visa and asylum applications, or compiling watchlists.
- Governments are utilizing recent technological advances to monitor their borders, including tools such as seismic and infrared sensors, unmanned aerial devices (“drones”), satellite imagery and remote sensing microphones. However, there are concerns over the high costs and low effectiveness.