The politics of status

In political discourses, migration is often linked with the legal or political conditions of migrants, and how this benefits them in their host countries. There are also prevailing, simplistic notions of "illegal" or "irregular" migration, with the narrative – including in the media – often focused largely on the status of migrants themselves. In this episode of the Migration Podcast, ICMPD experts Veronika Bilger and Maegan Hendow discuss the results of a study conducted under the MIrreM project that highlights the many ways, policies, the key events, and the other actors beyond governments that influence how migrants fall out of, or into, an irregular status. The study tackles how governments have responded to the issue of irregular migration in their own unique ways, the policy shifts and their rationale, the barriers for migrants to seek pathways out of irregularity, or even choose to remain in their irregular status. The full study may be downloaded here.