National Migration Governance: Trafficking, Smuggling, & State Enforcement

• In Event: International Migration: Population Movements in the 21st Century

Abstract

The concept of sovereignty suggests that states have the legal right to determine the number and type of migrants to admit to the territory of their state. Yet migrants, as agents of their own interests, bypass state controls both at borders and in the interior of the state. They do so with collaborators – migrant networks and the “migration industry” which includes both legal and illicit agents that help migrants achieve their goals and, in return, receive or extract payment for their services. This cat and mouse game between governments, migrants, and facilitators remains understudied as the issues that states confront elude both democratic and authoritarian regimes. This paper surveys the state of the art and points to critical research questions that point the way to policy prescriptions that help all component members of these dilemmas to achieve their goals.

Author

• Sarah P. Lockhart, Fordham University