The Politics and Ethics of Irregular Migration In Europe

Dr. Christina BoswellSchool of Social and Political Science

University of Edinburgh

Academy of European LawMigration and EU Law and Policy

Structure of Lectures:

Lecture 1:

The Politics of Irregular Migration

Lecture 2:

Policies on Irregular Migration in Europe

Lecture 3:

The Ethics of Irregular Migration

Lecture 1:

The Politics of Irregular Migration

What is an irregular migrant?• Legal migration: work permit, points system, family

(re)union, asylum

• Illegal entry, residence and employment: • Undocumented or clandestine entry• Residence without authorisation (illegal entry or overstay)• Renumerated employment without authorisation

• Terminology:• Illegal, undocumented, clandestine, irregular

Legal

Residence

Illegal residence

Legal entry Regular migrant Overstayer

Illegal entry Legalisation of status Illegal migrant

Irregular migration in Europe• Causes:

– Income disparities and globalization– Restriction of legal routes, 1972/3– Porous external borders– Demand for cheap and flexible labour

• Estimated flows:– ½ million enter EU illegally every year (EU, 2003)

• Estimated stocks:- Italy: 500 – 800,000– Germany: 500,000– France: 300,000– UK: 200,000 (HO figures higher)

Detections of illegal entry, 2007

Total Land Air Sea

Cyprus 5883 5743 140

France 5748 690 4199 909

Greece 73194 62475 1377 9342

Italy 21650 1195 20455

Malta 1702 1702

Spain 27910 4080 12709 11751

Total EU 163903 82371 20748 48696

Challenge to the nation-state

• Modern state: fixed territory and population

• Obligations and benefits of citizenship

• Challenge of migration• threatens privileged access to goods

• Challenge of irregular migration• threatens contractual system per se

• State under pressure to restrict immigration, and eliminate irregular migration

1. Restriction and the liberal constraint

• International normative constraints

• UN, EU

• Domestic judicial constraints

• Constitutions, courts

• Social cohesion/inter-ethnic relations

Leads to “gap hypothesis”

2. Economic interests

• State as broker between organised interests

• Strong business lobby for irregular migration

Leads to ambivalent migration control:

• Tough rhetoric, lenient practice

• “Decoupling” talk and action

3. Securitization

• States maximizing control/surveillance

• Securitize migration in order to:– Create sense of urgency– Mobilise support for restriction– Legitimize extension of state power

• Risks of securitizing migration?

4. Social systems

• Inclusionary logic of welfare states

• State incapacity to steer systems– Non-compliance– Distortions– Counter-productive outcomes

• Prefers to maintain “fog”

Exercise

Is your country’s policy on irregular migration best characterised by:

- Liberal constraint

- Economic interests

- Securitization

Lecture 2:

Policies on Irregular Migration in

Europe

Domestic European policies

• Challenges for different countries– Land or sea borders– Demand for labour– Lax internal control– Migrant networks

• Responses – Toleration– Legalisation (regularisations)– Crack-down

• Border control• Illegal employment• Cooperation with 3rd countries

Emergent EU Cooperation

• Single European Act (1986) and Schengen (1985)– Removal of restrictions to free movement

– Strengthen external borders, avoid “country shopping”• 1990 Dublin Convention

• Maastricht Treaty (1992)– Illegal migration as area of “common interest”

• 1996 Joint position on pre-frontier assistance

• 1997 Resolution on combating marriages of convenience

• Amsterdam Treaty (1997)– Article 63 – measures on “illegal immigration and illegal

residence”

Main areas of cooperation• Return

• 2001 Directive on mutual recognition of expulsion orders– 2004 Decision on organisation of joint return flights– 2008 Directive on Return

• Readmission agreements• 2000 onwards (Morocco, Sri Lanka, Russia, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Macao,

Albanisa, Algeria, China, Turkey)

• Border control• Capacity-building• Pre-frontier control• FRONTEX (2005)• 2007 Regulation on RABITS

• Databases• Eurodac, SIS, VIS

• Cooperation with 3rd countries…

External Dimension

• 1990s:• Readmission agreements

• Accession and pre-accession process

• Euromed and Common Strategies

• 1998: High Level Working Group• Action Plans for Afghanistan, Albania, Iraq, Morocco, Sri Lank, Somalia

• 1999: Tampere Special Council• Integrate immigration and asylum into external relations

• Endorsed by 2004 Hague Programme

• 2005: Global Approach• Migration Profiles

• West Africa focus

Domestic politics of EU cooperation

Motivations to cooperate

•Neo-functionalism - spillover

• Inter-governmentalism - shared problems

• Venue- shopping - shifting up and out?

•External dimension

Lecture 3:

The Ethics of Irregular Migration

Rights of Migrants

• Whom should we admit?

• Liberal universalism

– Equal claim to certain rights

– Problem of feasibility Basic rights

– Accept migrants until conditions for realising

rights are undermined

– Refugee law

Rights to restrict

• Communitarian argument:– Protect shared values, way of life– Charity begins at home

• Contractarian argument:– Sign up to set of rights and responsibilities

• Whom should we admit / allow to settle?– Those who will conform to cultural/normative

requirements– Those who contribute to society/economy

Application to irregular migrants?

• Already on territory

– Diverse causes of migration

– Diverse settlement intentions

– Differing skills and capacities

• Moral basis for treatment

– Liberal democracies and humane treatment

– International human rights considerations

• Contradictions

– State can only grant HR retrospectively (or regularise)

– Consequences of toleration? “Pull factor”

Synthesis: possible approaches

• Regularisation

– Programme

– Individual case basis

• Toleration

• Enforcement of controls

– Border controls

– Carrier sanctions

– Internal checks

– Employer sanctions

• Prevention

– Cooperation with 3rd countries