La Strada Documentation Center

Undocumented Migrants – Symptom, Not The Problem

Document number
1310
Date
2007
Title
Undocumented Migrants – Symptom, Not The Problem
Author/publisher
Don Flynn, Frank Düvell, Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
PICUM Policy Brief, Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour;
Summary
Public debate on immigration policy, particularly in the countries of the global north, is increasingly focused on the issue of irregular migration and the presence of undocumented migrants in their states. Anxieties have arisen about the issue which are increasingly displacing earlier fears about refugees and asylum seekers as the core ‘problem’ with the global management of migration. A number of divergent policy responses have been elaborated as a consequence of these new concerns. In this briefing paper we will review some of the thinking behind these policy responses and consider what they are attempting to achieve. We will ask whether the ‘enforcement agenda’ in particular really is an adequate way to tackle the issues arising from this aspect of global migration trends. In the final section we will set out the views of PICUM – an international network of civil society organisations working with undocumented migrants – and urge deeper thinking on the part of governments and policy-makers, with a view to tackling fundamental problems within the global systems of ‘managed migration’, which are the real source of irregular migration across the world.
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