In this conversation with Luna Vives, we discuss her new book The Gates of the Sea: Migration and Rescue at the Edges of Europe (University of California Press, 2025). The book examines how humanitarian rescue, border control, and racial politics intersect in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and what these patterns reveal about the moral and legal limits of current border regimes. The conversation is grounded, detailed, and focused on how everyday decisions at sea shape who lives and who is lost.
The language of “migration crisis.” Luna explains how the phrase “migration crisis” functions less as a neutral description and more as a policy tool that justifies exceptional measures such as detention, deportation, and border militarization. She traces how this framing emerged in Europe before 2015 and how it continues to structure public debate.
The concept of rescue and its legal framework. Luna describes Spain’s maritime rescue system and The International Search and Rescue Convention that obligates coastal states to save anyone in distress at sea. She shows how a humanitarian system meant to protect life is increasingly used to manage migration and enforce borders.
Civilian and military approaches to rescue. Spain’s civilian rescue agency, Salvamento Marítimo, has historically emphasized saving lives without distinction, while recent shifts have allowed the military to take over operations involving migrants. This change raises questions about how humanitarian obligations are interpreted in practice.
The role of race in rescue decisions. The discussion highlights how racial assumptions influence which boats receive help first. Luna gives examples from leaked communications where judgments about who is on board affect the urgency of response, revealing how racism operates even within humanitarian systems.
The politics of disappearance and distance. As enforcement expands, people are forced onto longer and more dangerous routes from West Africa to the Canary Islands. Many boats vanish at sea, leaving families without information or closure and exposing how official statistics understate the human cost of deterrence.
Labor, unions, and solidarity. Luna focuses on Spain’s rescue workers and their union, the CGT, which organizes around border abolitionism and worker solidarity. These crews resist the militarization of their work and continue to insist that rescue should remain a civilian, humanitarian task.
Resistance and choice. The book and discussion both emphasize that borders and rescue systems are made through policy choices, not inevitability. The same institutions that can exclude and detain can also protect and include, depending on how societies decide to act.
This conversation invites listeners to think carefully about how borders are built, how words like “rescue” and “crisis” shape public understanding, and what it would mean to organize migration policy around care rather than control. I encourage you to listen to the full discussion and to read The Gates of the Sea for a deeper understanding of how the politics of the sea mirror broader struggles over human movement and responsibility.
