This research deals with the question of how detention of foreigners and the creation of different forms of detention centers have been rendered possible in the context of Sweden, from the early 1900s up until today. A qualitative content analysis is used to explore four periods, in terms of the motivations and regulations that produce “detainable categories”, as well as the logic behind such practices of encampment. Drawing on the concept of the “state of exception”, and by using policy documents, this research argues how the Government by gaining extended powers in different periods of time justifies and regularizes the detention of foreigners. This has been done for the sake of security of the state, protecting the welfare and wellbeing of the nation. This tells us that the creation and production of detainabilities is not only related to exceptional situations, but becomes the normal condition of the existence of the nationstate.