Irregular Migration

Toward a Critical Phenomenology of “Illegality”: State Power, Criminalization, and Abjectivity Among Undocumented Migrant Workers In Tel Aviv, Israel

by Sarah Willen

Willen, Sarah S. 2007. “Toward a Critical Phenomenology of ‘Illegality’: State Power, Criminalization, and Abjectivity among Undocumented Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv, Israel.” Special issue: "Exploring ‘Illegal’ and ‘Irregular’ Migrants’ Lived Experiences of Law and State Power.” S. Willen, Guest editor. International Migration 45(3): 8-38.

Given the vast scope and magnitude of the phenomenon of so-called “illegal” migration in the present historical... more Given the vast scope and magnitude of the phenomenon of so-called “illegal” migration in the present historical moment, this article contends that phenomenologically engaged ethnography has a crucial role to play in sensitizing not only anthropologists, but also policymakers, politicians, and broader publics to the complicated, often anxiety-ridden and frightening realities associated with “the condition of migrant illegality,” both in specific host society settings and comparatively across the globe. In theoretical terms, the article constitutes a preliminary attempt to link pressing questions in the fields of legal anthropology and anthropology of transnational migration, on one hand, with recent work by phenomenologically oriented scholars interested in the anthropology of experience, on the other. The article calls upon ethnographers of undocumented transnational migration to bridge these areas of scholarship by applying what can helpfully be characterized as a “critical phenomenological” approach to the study of migrant “illegality” (Willen, 2006; see also Desjarlais, 2003). This critical phenomenological approach involves a three-dimensional model of illegality: first, as a form of juridical status; second, as a sociopolitical condition; and third, as a mode of being-in-the-world. In developing this model, the article draws upon 26 non-consecutive months of ethnographic field research conducted within the communities of undocumented West African (Nigerian and Ghanaian) and Filipino migrants in Tel Aviv, Israel, between 2000 and 2004. During the first part of this period, “illegal” migrants in Israel were generally treated as benign, excluded “Others.” Beginning in mid-2002, however, a resource-intensive, government-sponsored campaign of mass arrest and deportation reconfigured the condition of migrant “illegality” in Israel and, in effect, transformed these benign “Others” into wanted criminals. By analyzing this transformation the article highlights the profound significance of examining not only the judicial and sociopolitical dimensions of what it means to be “illegal” but also its impact on migrants' modes of being-in-the-world.

Introduction to the Special Issue "Migration, 'Illegality,' and Health: Mapping Embodied Vulnerability and Debating Health-Related Deservingness"

by Sarah Willen

Willen, Sarah S. 2012. Introduction to the special issue “Migration, 'Illegality,' and Health: Mapping Embodied Vulnerability and Debating Health-Related Deservingness.” S. Willen, guest editor. Social Science & Medicine. 74(6): 805-811.

How Is Health-Related “Deservingness” Reckoned? Perspectives from Unauthorized Im/migrants in Tel Aviv

by Sarah Willen

Willen, Sarah S. 2012. “How Is Health-Related ‘Deservingness’ Reckoned? Perspectives from Unauthorized Im/migrants in Tel Aviv.” Special Issue: “Migration, ‘Illegality,’ and Health: Mapping Embodied Vulnerability and Debating Health-Related Deservingness.” S. Willen, guest ed. Social Science and Medicine. 74(6): 812-821.

Do unauthorized im/migrants have a right to health? Do they deserve health care, or health protection, or access to... more Do unauthorized im/migrants have a right to health? Do they deserve health care, or health protection, or access to the social determinants of good health? Are they party to prevailing social contracts, or does their exclusion from mainstream systems of health promotion, prevention, and care “make sense”? Questions like these, which generate considerable attention in multiple spheres of scholarship, policy, and public debate, revolve around an issue that merits substantially greater consideration among social scientists of health: health-related “deservingness.” In addition to putting the issue of health-related deservingness squarely on the map as an object of analysis, the paper further argues that we cannot focus solely on those with power, influence, and public voice. Rather, we also must investigate how deservingness is reckoned in relation to – and, furthermore, from the perspectives of – unauthorized im/migrants and members of other groups commonly constructed in public and policy discourse as undeserving. Additionally, we must also examine the complicated relationship between universalizing juridical arguments about formal entitlement to health rights, on one hand, and situationally specific, vernacular moral arguments about deservingness, on the other.

KEYWORDS: Israel – unauthorized im/migration – im/migrant health – “illegality” – deservingness – health care access – idioms of social justice mobilization – renegade moralities

“Migrants at the gates: The external dimension of the EU’s migration policy in the South Mediterranean”, Interdisciplinary Political Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, November 2011.

by Valentina-Andreea Dimulescu

How do smuggling and trafficking operate via irregular border crossings in the Middle East? Evidence from fieldwork in Turkey

by sule toktas

co-authored with Ahmet Icduygu

Illegally Resident Third Country Nationals in Germany. Policy approaches, profile and social situation

by Axel Kreienbrink

Annette Sinn / Axel Kreienbrink / Hans Dietrich von Loeffelholz (2005): Illegally Resident Third Country Nationals in Germany. Policy approaches, profile and social situation, Research Study 2005 within the framework of the European Migration Network, Nürnberg.

'I've too much baggage': the impacts of legal status on the social worlds of irregular migrants

by Nando Sigona

Sigona, N. (2012) ''I've too much baggage': the impacts of legal status on the social worlds of irregular migrants', Social Anthropology, 20 (1): 50-65

Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with irregular migrants in the UK, this article shows how the condition of... more Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with irregular migrants in the UK, this article shows how the condition of ‘illegality’ permeates migrants’ everyday lives, gradually invading their social worlds and social and community networks. The article will focus on three aspects in particular: firstly, the impact of being undocumented on the ways migrants choose who to interact with and how; secondly, the range of social activities undocumented migrants engage in and the places where they socialise; and thirdly, the interaction with community organisations, churches and mainstream support agencies. Overall, by revealing differences as well as commonalities in the ways ‘illegality’ impact on migrants’ social worlds, the paper argues for a conceptualisation of ‘illegality’ that takes into account analytically how this intersects with specific legal and policy arrangements and broader socio-economic context, as well as with migrants’ expectations and histories.

Success at Second Glance: Regularizations of Irregular Migrants in Spain

by Axel Kreienbrink

in: Mechthild Baumann / Astrid Lorenz / Kerstin Rosenow (eds.): Crossing and Controlling Borders - Immigration Policies and their Impact on Migrants' Journeys, Opladen/Farmington Hill 2011, 45-71.

Illegal employment of immigrants in Germany: combating the phenomenon versus social rights?

by Axel Kreienbrink

(with Christoph Junkert), in: Mally Shechory / Sarah Ben David / Dan Soen (Hg.): Who Pays the Price? Foreign Workers, Society, Crime and the Law, New York 2010, 155-171.

Irregular Workers Egypt Ray Jureidini

by Ray Jureidini

Irregular Migrants' Challenge to Immigration Control and Membership Policies

by Andrei Stavilă (Andrei Stavila)

Perpetual Links:The Role of Mobile Telecommunication in the Lives of Sub-Saharan Immigrants in Malta

by Angelle Azzopardi

This paper has been written on behalf of MIRIADE (Migrations IRrégulières dans les Iles et Archipels De l’Europe) as a contribution for the Workshop organised between 9th and 10th December 2011. This paper is a rendition of research I conducted as a partial fulfillment for M.A. Qualifying in Sociology in 2010 with the supervision and support of Dr. JosAnn Cutajar.

About MIRIADE:

During the 2000s, the islands of southern Europe have become the new pathways of irregular immigration in Europe, as the old roads (including Gibraltar), now very controlled, were gradually abandoned. In this context, French, Canarian, Sicilian, Maltese and Greek researchers had the idea to pool their research through the creation of an international network. Thus MIRIADE (Migrations IRrégulières dans les Iles et Archipels De l’Europe) was born, under the leadership of Nathalie Bernardie-Tahir who has initiated the first seminar in Limoges in october 2009.

Website: http://www.flsh.unilim.fr/miriade/miriade-network/

This article is based on a research I conducted in May 2011 as a partial fulfilment for an M.A. preparatory programme... more This article is based on a research I conducted in May 2011 as a partial fulfilment for an M.A. preparatory programme in Sociology for the University of Malta. The qualitative research consisted of fifteen face-to-face semi-structured interviews with Sub-Saharan immigrants who have been residing in Malta over the past five years. This research, conducted with the consent of dministrators within the Marsa Open Centre, and the Peace Lab, served to uncover the role of Mobile Communication Technology in the migrants' journey to and settlement process in Malta, and the importance of such a gadget in the main stages of migrant's life: the journey, detention and his/her settlement in a new country. The first section of this article presents two sociological arguments. The use of the mobile phone in sociology is perceived either as an Apparatgeist (Katz and Aakhus, 2002), shaping social change, or a 'portable house' (Castells, Fernandez Ardevol, Linchuan, Qiu, and Sey 2007; Ito, 2005) affected by social change. In the second section this article goes through the intersection of mobile telephony with the lives of Sub-Saharan immigrants in Malta. In the final section this article addresses new attempts to improve mobile technology which would facilitate the lives of the immigrants in Europe. For instance the uprising development of Mobile Money Transferring (MMT) which provides an effective and efficient way in which migrants worldwide are transferring remittances from the receiving country to their families back home.

Migration and Information: Images of Europe, Migration Encouraging Factors and En Route Information Sharing

by Joris Schapendonk

Co-authored with David van Moppes

This first working paper in a series discussing the different implications of the concept of transit migration focuses... more This first working paper in a series discussing the different implications of the concept of transit migration focuses on the role of information in the migration process of sub-Saharan African migrants towards Europe. Both the pre-migration phase and the actual migration are taken into account. The first part outlines the migration encouraging factors in Senegal and the second part focuses on the importance of information and information-sharing when migrants are travelling through Africa on their way to Europe.

Negotiating Status in Japan: Case analysis on legalizing irregular Filipino migrants and the role of state and non-state actors

by Anderson Villa

Paper also presented at the VFM Conference in Osaka University, Japan

This paper focuses on the interplay of “migration institutions” and the peculiar experiences of former undocumented... more This paper focuses on the interplay of “migration institutions” and the peculiar experiences of former undocumented Filipino migrants as human agents in a quest to normalize their migration status through obtaining special permission to reside in Japan, while their cases is being resolved, either by reason of having their children born in Japan, or of having children born to a Japanese father or mother out of wedlock. The issues surrounding children’s citizenship in cases of international partnerships are complex, and this is where I seek to specifically study the nature of cases which involve migrants and their children in Japan, by documenting the processes they have experienced, either from arrest and detention, or towards lobbying their case before the courts. Their complicated status makes their positions vulnerable – prone to abuses and even manipulation by anybody from whom they are seeking help. Consequently, I have incorporated discussion on the multifaceted factors that influenced their decision to emigrate from the Philippines and point out significant reasons to stay in Japan, as earlier studies suggest that migrants make use of all possible channels in their pursuit to regularize their status. This may be by way of working through non-government organizations (NGOs) and/or advocacy groups, informal connections, and other sympathizers. The study also put forward significant discourses on securitization of migration in relation to how the roles of governments (both of the host and sending country) come into play. Finally, the paper reiterates the state of “liberal paradox” where most host countries, including Japan, are caught up with; and how ultimately future immigration policies will be shaped within this logic.

DeBono, D. 'Not our problem': Why the detention of irregular migrants is not considered a human rights issue in Malta, 2011.

by Daniela DeBono

DeBono, D. "'Not our problem': Why the detention of irregular migrants is not considered a human rights issue in Malta. In Dembour, M. & Kelly, T., Are human rights for migrants? Critical Reflections on the Status of Irregular Migrants in Europe and the United States, Routledge, 2011

DeBono, D, 'Human rights for the Maltese first': Irregular migration and human rights in Malta, 2011.

by Daniela DeBono

DeBono, D, "Human rights for the Maltese first": Irregular migration and human rights in Malta. In Xuereb, P. (ed) Irregular Migration: Rights and Realities, Malta European Studies Association: Malta, 2011

Return and Readmission: The case of Albania

by Sonila Danaj

co-authored with Teuta Grazhdani; Arolda Elbasani and Elizabeth Warn

Studying the ‘migration-security nexus’ in Europe: Towards which end of the ‘nexus’?

by Dimitris Skleparis

Paper to be presented at the UACES Student Forum 12th Annual Conference,
University of Surrey, Guildford, 30 June – 1 July 2011

This article contends that critical approaches to the ‘migration-security nexus’ are making a noticeable turn in... more This article contends that critical approaches to the ‘migration-security nexus’ are making a noticeable turn in recent years to a ‘migration-oriented’ study of the ‘nexus’. The aim of this article is to review this shift in the critical analysis of the ‘nexus’ primarily, but not exclusively, in Europe. The article is organized as follows: first, it provides a brief outline of the creation of the ‘migration-security nexus’. Then, it summarizes the emergence of the critical approaches to security and the application of the ‘Copenhagen’ and the ‘Paris’ Schools in the study of the ‘nexus’. Next, the article discusses the dangers of studying migration from a security perspective, or what is known as the ‘security traps’ of security studies. In this regard, it continues with a critical assessment of possible solutions to this problem and a review of key studies that empirically engage with these solutions, paying particular attention to their main themes, strengths, and weaknesses. Finally, the article concludes that a key turn to a ‘migration-oriented’ study of the ‘nexus’ is taking place among the critical approaches and evaluates the benefits that occur for the critical study of the ‘migration-security nexus’ in Europe from the perspective of security.

Migration routes and strategies of young undocumented migrants in England: a qualitative perspective

by Nando Sigona

Co-authored with Alice Bloch (City University, London) and Roger Zetter (Refugee Studies Centre).

Based on data from in-depth qualitative interviews with young undocumented migrants from Brazil, China, Ukraine,... more Based on data from in-depth qualitative interviews with young undocumented migrants from Brazil, China, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and Kurds from Turkey, this article explores the entry strategies used by young people in relation to the UK immigration system and their undocumented status. Against a brief account of Britain's regime, the paper first examines why and how these migrants come to the UK and the ways in which they entered the country. Second, the paper explores strategies in relation to immigration status and considers: the use of different immigration statuses; the role of the asylum system in their strategies including as an attempt to regularize status or as a route to becoming undocumented when refused asylum. Finally, the paper examines the extent to which these young migrants have agency in their efforts to negotiate the complex and exclusionary immigration and asylum regime.

Irregular migrant children and public policy

by Nando Sigona

Published in 'The Migration Observatory', 24 March 2011

This policy primer looks at the tensions between child protection laws and immigration and asylum laws in the UK and... more This policy primer looks at the tensions between child protection laws and immigration and asylum laws in the UK and the broader international context and examines the implications for both policy-making and for undocumented children.

Contents
- The issue: Immigration control and the vulnerability of irregular migrant children in the UK child protection system
- Definitional issues and policy implications
- Irregular migrant children and children of irregular migrants in the UK: Counting the uncountable
- Estimating the numbers of undocumented migrant children in the UK is difficult.
- The multilevel governance of migrant children
- Implications for policy debates