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A ‘Migrant Crisis’?

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Immigration and the State

Abstract

This chapter reframes the migrant crisis as a crisis of immigration politics in liberal democratic states. The rest of the chapter outlines and identifies the key indicators of this crisis. It begins with four areas where the crisis has direct consequences for immigrants: death, illegalization, unfreedom, and exploitation. It finishes with two further crises relating to public opinion: a public debate made toxic by a critical absence of support for immigration and a crisis of confidence in the political system itself.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    E.g. ‘MigrEurop’ http://www.migreurop.org/, and others such as http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/campaigns/refugee-campaign/fortress-europe/.

  2. 2.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/15/migrant-boat-capsizes-egypt-malta-traffickers.

  3. 3.

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/7000-migrants-rescued-from-stricken-boats-in-mediterranean-in-past-five-days-10176706.html.

  4. 4.

    Hansard, House of Commons, 30 October 2014: Column 397 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm141030/debtext/141030-0001.htm#141030-0001.htm_spmin19.

  5. 5.

    Calais Migrant Solidarity has been recording deaths through personal testimony and press reports: https://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/deaths-at-the-calais-border/.

  6. 6.

    See, for example, comments by Tony Smith (former head of the UK Border Force [UKBF]) in April 2013, http://www.workpermit.com/news/2013-04-17/former-uk-immigration-boss-says-system-has-been-out-of-control-since-2000.

  7. 7.

    Comment by Keith Vaz, MP, December 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30550483.

  8. 8.

    See, for example, comments by US Senator Jeff Sessions, December 2014 http://www.independentsentinel.com/sen-sessions-u-s-immigration-system-has-plunged-into-a-state-of-lawless-chaos/.

  9. 9.

    Channel 4, 2 March 2015: ‘Yarl’s Wood: Undercover in the Secretive Immigration Centre http://www.channel4.com/news/yarls-wood-immigration-removal-detention-centre-investigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Alex Balch

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  1. Alex Balch
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Balch, A. (2016). A ‘Migrant Crisis’?. In: Immigration and the State. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-38589-5_2

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