Abstract
Recent legislative changes in the South African migratory system demonstrate that the country has gone from establishing a welcoming refugee system during the postapartheid era to a system that considers immigrants as national security threats. As countries around the world have advanced in securitizing migration as a response to events such as the high numbers of refugee flows or the terrorist threat, South Africa has also followed this tendency, increasing surveillance at its borders, restricting access to obtaining asylum seeker permits, increasing bureaucratic burdens, and making it more difficult for these groups to exercise their rights. There are several reasons why migration is more negatively viewed today, and political narratives are just one of them. Laws and policies have also securitized migration in South Africa. Altogether, this has great effects on the rights of immigrants in the country and their integration within the host society.
