Syndemics in Symbiotic Cities: Pathogenic Policy and the Production of Health Inequity across Borders

Right-Wing Populist Parties' Bordering Narratives in Times of Crisis: Anti-Immigration Discourse in the Genevan Borderland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Right-wing populist parties (RWPPs) view immigration as a threat to national identity and cultural and political cohesion. This paper explores the discourse on immigration of two such parties during a systemic crisis (the COVID-19 pandemic) in a borderland area that entails a specific "symbolization" of the border as a result of geographic proximity. What kind of bordering narratives occur in this context, and how do they evolve? To answer these questions, the major RWPPs operating in the Geneva region were studied: the Genevan Swiss People's Party and the Geneva Citizens' Movement. Through a critical discourse analysis, a total of 181 documents published between 1 January and 31 August 2020 were analyzed, including the parties' official Facebook posts, press releases, and newspaper articles. Results show that the context of the pandemic favored the emergence of a strong re-bordering narrative.

United States immigration detention amplifies disease interaction risk: A model for a transnational ICE-TB-DM2 syndemic

Detention and removal of unauthorised immigrants by United States (U.S.) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has steadily increased despite declining rates of unauthorised migration. ICE detainees are held in overcrowded detention centres, often without due process and deprived of adequate food, sanitation, and medical care. Conditions of ICE detention contribute to malnutrition and increase the likelihood of infectious disease exposure, including tuberculosis (TB). TB infection interacts with Type 2 Diabetes (DM2), disproportionately affecting individuals who are routinely targeted by federal immigration practices. When two diseases interact and exacerbate one another within a larger structural context, thereby amplifying multiple disease interactions, this is called a syndemic. In this paper, we examine malnutrition in ICE detention as a pathway of bidirectional risks for and interactions between TB and DM2 among ICE detainees. Drawing from literature on detention conditions, TB, and DM2 rates along the U.S.-Mexico border, we propose an ICE-TB-DM2 syndemic model. We present a map displaying our proposed syndemic model to demonstrate the spatial application of syndemic theory in the context of ICE detention, strengthening the growing scholarship on syndemics of incarceration and removal.