migrants enter exploitative work arrangements where they are forced to accept poor wages and standards of living. For example, undocumented Bangladeshi migrants in Greece work on strawberry farms where they are subject to harsh working conditions and forced to live in unsafe living conditions. Because of their precarious status as illegal migrants, these men have limited bargaining power to gain access to rights because employers have the power to report them and get them deported should they speak up. As the world transitions away from strict COVID19 policies, borders in the EU will begin to become more porous. However, that porosity will be saved for citizens, and those who are ‘Other’ and not white will still face heavy policing. With the racialization of migration, migrants wear the border on their body; their race or ethnicity prescribes their exclusion from Europe. The securitization and externalization of borders highlights how the EU has become more nativist and prioritized whiteness, and in turn Othered racialized migrants. The pandemic has exposed many issues within society, and migration has been exposed as exclusionary and dangerous for migrants. However, the uncertainty and unprecedented circumstance associated with COVID-19 provides the opportunity for the EU to reanalyze and reform their migration policy. I believe these changes should recognize the rights of migrants and seek to create more inclusive immigration standards in order to stop the protectionist and racist policies implemented by the EU. THE OBSERVER
XVIII.3
12.
