Major Obstacles to Control of Irregular Migrations: Prerequisites to Policy

In: International migration review: IMR, Band 18, Heft 3, S. 579-592

Abstract

This article examines three basic obstacles thwarting all attempts to reduce irregular migration. The first, rather well known and analyzed, underscores the dependency of all regulation of migratory flows on the system of economic and political relations between developed and developing countries. The second obstacle resides in the persistance and growth of subsequent dependent irregular migration. This obstacle also reveals the relative autonomy of population movements compared with the employment situation in the labor market. The third, generally ignored obstacle, is the role played by migration itself, particularly the discriminatory status of foreign workers in the labor market, in producing irregular migration.