Starling Speaker Series: 9/11, COVID, and the ICE-age
Everyone is welcome to attend this next installment of the Starling Speaker Series with Dr. Ben Muller, who will be presenting his paper, “9/11, COVID, and the ICE-age: Reflections on 21st Century Border Security.”
Details at a Glance
Where: Scholar’s Lab, Weldon Library, Western University
When: 11 March 2026, 4:30 to 6:30pm
Abstract: How has the escalated reliance on biometrics, apps, and digital technologies altered the management of borders and the bodies that cross them? What does it mean to say we live in a biometric state? How are borders more visceral and deadly, while also virtual? How do we understand the contention that contemporary border security is algorithmic? The management of borders and the bodies that cross them has developed in the long shadow of the attacks of 11 September 2001. These developments were animated by rapid technological advances and fervent neoliberalism, leading to a proliferation of biometric technologies, automation, digitization, and more recently, artificial intelligence. While the impact of 9/11 lingers, capitalist propelled “customer-driven” models alongside the burst of social media have led to dramatically altered borderscapes in the first quarter of the 21st century. The experience of COVID pressured governments and industry for “touchless” experiences while confronting certain challenges of immobility. Focusing on three moments in recent border and mobility management, from the post-9/11 era to the COVID experience, concluding with reflections on the current ICE-age, this talk considers the dynamics of the emerging algorithmic border.
Speaker Bio: Benjamin J. Muller is Professor of Migration and Border Studies at King’s University College at Western University, in London, Ontario, Canada, and is also a faculty member in the Centre for Theory and Criticism at Western University.
Dr. Muller has published widely in books and academic journals on issues of borders, sovereignty, security, surveillance, and biometrics, including two monographs and a recent co-edited book on Architectures of Security: Design, Control, Mobility (Bloomsbury 2024). Most notably, Dr. Muller’s Security, Risk and the Biometric State: Governing Borders and Bodies
(Routledge 2009) remains a key humanities and social sciences text on the emergence of biometric technologies in border and migration management. Consulted as an expert witness on several Canadian Parliamentary committees and invited as a research collaborator and guest speaker for NATO/European Science Foundation initiatives, INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization, Dr. Muller has also held several visiting research fellowships in North America and Europe. Dr. Muller has also served as an active executive member in the King’s University College Faculty Association for more than 10 years, including serving as Chair for 5 years, and was the inaugural co-recipient of the KUCFA Copplestone-Csiernik Service Award in 2025.