Autonomy of migrant smuggling

Legal absurdities in the criminalisation of family reunification and solidarity with asylum seekers

Bibliographic Data

ID24226282
AuthorsJukka Könönen (0000-0002-4843-7741, University of Helsinki)
Year2026
Pages1-21
Publication date2026-05-14
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNew Community (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-9586 • E-ISSN: 1469-9451
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369183x.2026.2671294
OpenAlexW7161135295
LanguageEN
References cited50

Notwithstanding humanitarian crises at the EU external borders, migrant smuggling also comprises mundane solidarity-based and autonomous practices within Europe. Based on a socio-legal analysis of over a hundred court rulings in Finland, migrant smuggling predominantly covered assistance for asylum seekers and family members, usually embedded in social relations and personal networks. Overall, the sentences for the organisation of illegal entry mainly related to secondary smuggling of third-country nationals already assisted in reaching Europe, often involving the delivery of travel documents and joint travel via commercial routes within the Schengen area. The literalist and rigid sentencing practices, overlooking realities of migration and humanitarian considerations, expand punitive migration governance and reconfirm criminalisation of mobility, even with paradoxical outcomes. Despite some aggravated offences – including sentences for intermediaries – most defendants assisted with travel arrangements without any financial gain. Contrary to the impunity clause, the courts considered humanitarian motives mainly when lowering sentences, producing legal absurdities by treating family members, acquaintances, and fellow migrants as organised smugglers. The concept of the autonomy of migrant smuggling foregrounds the productive contradictions of migration governance in the criminalisation of self-organised and collective mobility practices that arise precisely from the necessity to navigate within the repressive border regime.

asylum seekers · border regimes · criminalization of migration · Family reunification · Finland · intermediaries · migrant smuggling · migration governance · Schengen Area · sentencing practice · Solidarity · travel documents · European Law and Migration · Gender and Women's Rights · Migration and Exile Studies

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access