Creating uncertainty in the governance of arrival and return: target-group constructions in Bavarian AnkER facilities

Germany remains the number one destination for migrants in Europe. After 2015, following a backlash, burdens on municipalities and the inefficiency of the processing of asylum claims were widely problematized, as was the termination of residence and return of those deemed irregular migrants. Policymakers presented so-called AnkER centres, an acronym for central reception, decision-making, and repatriation facilities that translates as ‘anchor’ in German, as a solution that would accelerate procedures. Drawing from an interpretive case study of the AnkER pilots in Bavaria/Germany, we scrutinize meaning-making as reflected in contested constructions of target groups and identify the complex rationales of belonging shared by different ‘communities of meaning’ that pose a challenge to the promise of certainty declared in official documents.