Governing Irregular Migration

This thorough analysis of immigration governance in Spain explores the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion at play at one of Europe’s southern borders. David Moffette analyzes Spain’s processes of immigration governance and reveals the complicated series of legal obstacles facing many migrants.

Differential access to border mobility is a central concern of contemporary politics, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the European Union, where external borders have been strengthened to prevent irregular entry and internal borders have been removed to promote free circulation. Moffette draws on interviews with policymakers and on more than three decades of parliamentary debates, laws, and policy documents to show that culture, labour, and security issues intersect to create a regime of migration governance that is at once progressive and repressive.

A detailed empirical analysis of Spanish immigration policy, this book provides a thought-provoking and insightful contribution to debates in socio-legal, border, and citizenship studies.

Patricia Landolt, associate professor and chair, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto Scarborough:
Governing Irregular Migration makes an exciting and original contribution to how we conceptualize, and contend with, the messiness of migration governance in a global, multiscalar world. The book puts socio-legal studies and migration research into elegant conversation using the concepts of probation, discretion, and borderwork to show how Spain turned irregular migration into a policy problem in need of management.

José Ángel Brandariz, associate professor, Faculty of Law, University of A Coruña, Spain:
David Moffette has written a compelling analysis of the processes aimed at governing migration and human mobility. His book’s salience and academic impact go far beyond the geographical scope of his study. Governing Irregular Migration makes a crucial contribution to the socio-legal analyses of migration governance and to related criminological, sociological, and legal debates.

Luin Goldring, professor, Department of Sociology, York University:
This book is an intellectual tour de force that will become a must-read for critical border and migration scholars. Moffette combines ethnography, archival research, and interviews with officials to analyze the multi-actor and multiscalar governing of irregular migration in Spain. His analysis vividly captures how irregular migrants are not only criminalized but also selectively and contingently incorporated through complex logics and bordering practices that occur in various sites and timelines.