Bureaucratic Tradeoffs in Migration Management

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 06. Immigration bureaucracies

Abstract

The study of migration policy remains dominated by a “politics of migration” approach. Yet, this approach overlooks an important player in migration policy: the migration bureaucracy. Recent interest in this area suggests there is both value and potential in the topic. However, by emphasizing micro- and meso-level dynamics, this work undertheorizes how macro-forces shape the administrative contexts within which these dynamics operate. This paper advances two avenues to address such challenges. It first explicitly approaches migration as an issue of administration. In doing so, it highlights a core set of themes, namely that bureaucracies are composite, connected, and political, which can organize theoretical and empirical study as well as open avenues for future work. In then presents a framework on bureaucratic tradeoffs outlining competing macro-forces (volume, costs, process, and societal interests) acting on administrative bodies. This widely applicable framework draws attention to the challenges of migration management and to actors’ attempts to navigate the trade-offs involved. The case of the US Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) is then used to illustrate the arguments.

Author

• Nathan Ly, Cornell University