Introduction

During the late summer and fall of 2020, the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, repeatedly claimed that groups of so-called ‘indvandrerdrenge’ (immigrant boys) were creating public insecurity. According to Frederiksen, ‘indvandrerdrenge’ were hanging out in groups along sidewalks, on public transportation and in neighbourhood parking lots and public squares, where their (supposedly) inappropriate behaviour was making others feel unsafe. In response, Frederiksen and her government proposed to provide the police with a new authority to break up these groups of ‘indvandrerdrenge’, fine them and confiscate their ‘expensive jackets, watches and mobile phones’ (Frederiksen, 2020, translation by author).

In this chapter, I examine this imperative to remove so-called ‘indvandrerdrenge’ from public spaces and confiscate their personal belongings. The literal translation of the term ‘indvandrerdrenge’ in English is ‘immigrant boys’. Yet, within the contemporary Danish context, this term is far from neutral. As a compound term of ‘immigrant’ and ‘boy’, ‘indvandrerdrenge’ conjures a specific racialised demographic of male youth or young adults. Referring to this group as ‘boys’ relies on an unsubtle paternalism, framing this group as lacking adult characteristics. Furthermore, rather than immigrants per se, ‘indvandrerdrenge’ refers to young ‘non-western’ immigrants or young men whose parents or grandparents have immigrated from so-called ‘non-western’ countries. These associations are tied to growing attempts by the Danish state to collect data testifying to the existence of this new social category. Since 2002, the national statistical agency, Statistics Denmark, has recorded statistical information about indvandrer (immigrants) and efterkommer (their descendants) living in Denmark. Statistics Denmark classifies immigrants and their descendants according to two categories: ‘western’ and ‘non-western’. Western countries include the member states of the EU (including the UK), Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican City, Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The rest of the world's 156 countries are defined as ‘non-western’ countries.

This categorisation enables politicians, journalists and social scientists to refer to ‘non-western’ immigrants and their descendants – people from over 150 different countries – as ‘a somewhat monolithic object of governmental intervention and social scientific inquiry’ (Zhang, 2020).