Benjamin J. Muller, PhD

‘Mind-boggling stupidity’: The consultancy that captured universities Nous Group has slowly taken over the university sector, filling VCs’ offices with ex-staff and buying ‘incredibly sensitive’ data that is sold back for benchmarking.

Frightening similarities to the approach becoming commonplace among senior administrators in Higher Education in the Province of Ontario in Canada.
‘Mind-boggling stupidity’: The consultancy that captured universities www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/educati... via @thesaturdaypaper.com.au

Why Canada’s Strong Borders Act is as troublesome as Donald Trump’s travel bans Canada’s ‘Strong Border Act’ is a recent chapter in the history of co-operation and coercion by the United States, but for Canadians, it could be even more troubling than Donald Trump’s travel bans.

Why Canada’s Strong Borders Act is as troublesome as Donald Trump’s travel bans
theconversation.com/why-canadas-...

The appification of borders: Data, migration and digitalization - Can E Mutlu, Philippe M Frowd, Benjamin Muller, 2025 The intersection of migration, borders, and technology has been extensively studied in critical security studies, science and technology studies, law, and beyon...

In our new article, Can Mutlu, @biometricstate.bsky.social and I argue for more attention to how smartphone apps are used at borders. Available in #openaccess!

Trump Authorizes Military to Take Over Federal Land at the U.S.-Mexico Border Trump issues executive order directing military to take over the Roosevelt Reservation. Tribal land is excluded from the order.

Militarization of the Border is far from simply theoretical | Trump Authorizes Military to Take Over Federal Land at the U.S.-Mexico Border
www.theborderchronicle.com/p/trump-auth...

A Live Podcast from Patagonia, Arizona, with Award-Winning Authors Luis Alberto Urrea and Gary Nabhan The Border Chronicle’s Todd Miller and Melissa del Bosque discuss cultural resistance in the borderlands with literary heroes Urrea and Nabhan.

Essential listening in these exceptional times | A Live Podcast from Patagonia, Arizona, with Award-Winning Authors Luis Alberto Urrea and Gary Nabhan www.theborderchronicle.com/p/a-live-pod...

The evil at your door The deportation action as regime change

Deportation and/as evil | The evil at your door open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

Trump administration mulling new travel restrictions on citizens from dozens of countries New memo lists 41 countries – including Afghanistan, Cuba and Syria – that could face new restrictions, evoking first-term Muslim ban

Not surprising, but terrible | Trump administration mulling new travel restrictions on citizens from dozens of countries www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Are Canadians Safe Travelling to the US? | The Tyee A Vancouver woman has been held nearly two weeks in ‘deplorable’ conditions. So far, no advisory from Canada.

We live in interesting times… Are Canadians Safe Travelling to the US? via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2025/03...

The Myth of the Hardened Border Crude restrictions can’t stop migrants, drugs, or disease.

Essential reading from Edward Alden and Laurie Trautman. Robust, longstanding evidence in border research clearly indicates that hardening, militarizing, and securitizing borders doesn't stop the mobility of people, illicit products, or pathogens.

www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

The Migrant Disappearance Protocols: Trump Sends Immigrants to "Legal Black Hole" at Guantánamo Bay Guantánamo Bay isn’t where people go when they break the law; Guantánamo Bay is where the presidents goes when they want to break the law.

Well worth a read - exceptionalism in action | The Migrant Disappearance Protocols: Trump Sends Immigrants to "Legal Black Hole" at Guantánamo Bay open.substack.com/pub/austinko...

The Trumping of Canada’s Politics | The Tyee Voters have a new common enemy. And Poilievre’s lead has ‘evaporated,’ says one pollster.

Michael Harris: Trump’s gaudy display of “shock and awful” in the opening days of his administration makes one thing crystal clear:

The U.S. president is now the main preoccupation of Canadian politics and that means that everything is in play.

Just as Guantanamo Bay operated as an extraterritorial manifestation of the exercise of exceptional sovereign power after the events of 9/11, the contemporary threat of the day is migrants. As such, while awful, it's sadly unsurprising that Trump has chosen Guantanamo to detain/deport migrants.

As best you can, ignore him.

Trump's New Immigration Policies are Already Affecting Refugees and Asylum Seekers Humanitarian migrants are among those first hit by the Trump administration's new immigration policies.

Great early engagement on Trump's executive orders related to borders and migration, as well as some great resources from Austin Kocher | Trump's New Immigration Policies Already Affecting Refugees and Asylum Seekers open.substack.com/pub/austinko...

Twenty Lessons On Tyranny From the Twentieth Century

This seems as relevant to the current political situation as to some university governance changes.

Twenty Lessons On Tyranny open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

El Paso County Commissioner Says U.S. Government is Knowingly 'Killing Immigrants' As Deaths During Border Crossings Climb El Paso County Commissioners passes resolution aiming to improve data collection of deaths across the border and collaboration with organizations.

“It's tough to say, but the United States continuously and knowingly is killing immigrants. I know it's a very shocking statement but it's the reality of the current state of federal and state policy and practices” www.latintimes.com/el-paso-coun...

What could WNMU's ex-president's exit package pay for? Western New Mexico University president Joseph Shepard received a lucrative payout when he resigned amid controversy. Here’s how it stacks up to other budget items at the college.

The revolving door of senior university administrators, the often lucrative payouts, frequently connected to early terminations, often at the behest of inexperienced Board of Governors, is a dark & costly chapter in the contemporary crisis in Higher Ed. www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

I often feel like Bill Clinton cementing Ronald Reagan's agenda really did seal Fukuyama's end of history. Except instead of some imagined western liberal utopia it's the uni-party consensus on brutalizing the poor and funneling money to the "productive" class under a sham democracy.

It is time for justice and accountability in Syria But that is no easy task.

Great insight from Dr. Samer Abboud aje.io/igx4td

Private contractors in US eye windfall from Trump’s push to deport migrants Trump’s pledge to pursue ‘mass deportation’ is likely to increase demand for detention facilities and surveillance.

Woof.
"As spending on immigration enforcement and border security has ramped up in the US, experts say the private sector has sought to take advantage of the lucrative opportunities, pitching everything from surveillance tech and biometric scanning to detention facilities."

aje.io/c7fgfl

It’s finally here! rowman.com/ISBN/9781786...

100%

Dogs with jobs

This just isn’t funny anymore

Reminder: border walls don’t stop people from crossing the border, though they do waste billions and destroy ecosystems.

Organ Pipe, where I filmed this video, was *entirely* walled off by Trump, yet it saw the most crossings anywhere along the border last year.

More walls aren’t the answer.

So far so good @bsky.app
Lots of great starter packs and enthusiasm reminiscent of early days on that other platform… and lots of #books

We've made some additions with new people we've seen/come across. Let us know if you can think of anyone missing! go.bsky.app/TxsUGAN

Working on critical border studies starter pack for @acbsnetwork.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/TxsUGAN

Going absolutely beast mode on academic bullshit. If you care about addressing academic exploitation, please read and share.