Abstract

Drawing on research on detention decisions at the political, administrative and judicial level, the article discusses the administrative detention of migrants through the lens of jurisdiction. Through considering the limits of power and the criteria that assigns jurisdictional competence, this perspective draws attention to the processual and polycentric dimension of power, as well as the role that law and jurisdiction play in legitimising administrative detention. As such, administrative detention provides an opportunity to scrutinize both the processes that invest the legal order and the adjustments implemented when a deficit occurs at different levels of the decision chain.