Revolving Doors

How Externalization Policies Block Refugees and Deflect Other Migrants across Migration Routes

Bibliographic Data

ID4122636
AuthorsAlice Mesnard (0000-0001-6899-9138, Établissement public Campus Condorcet), Filip Savatic (0000-0002-9311-0916, Établissement public Campus Condorcet), Jean-Noël Senne (0000-0001-9477-9606, Université Paris Dauphine-PSL), Hélène Thiollet (0000-0002-4151-007X, Établissement public Campus Condorcet)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue3
Pages607-642
Publication date2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation and Development Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/padr.12650
OpenAlexW4400903312
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited70

Migrant destination states of the Global North generally seek to stem irregular migration while remaining committed to refugee rights. To do so, these states have increasingly sought to externalize migration control, implicating migrant origin and transit states in managing the movement of persons across borders. But do externalization policies actually have an impact on unauthorized migration flows? If yes, do those impacts vary across different migrant categories given that both asylum seekers and other migrants can cross borders without prior authorization? We argue that these policies do have an impact on unauthorized migration flows and that those impacts are distinct for refugees and other migrants. Using data on "irregular/illegal border crossings" collected by Frontex, the Border and Coast Guard Agency of the European Union (EU), we first find that the geographical trajectories of refugees and other migrants who cross EU borders without authorization are distinct. Using a novel method to estimate whether individuals are likely to obtain asylum in 31 European destination states, we find that "likely refugees" tend to be concentrated on a single, primary migratory route while "likely irregular migrants" may be dispersed across multiple routes. Through an event study analysis of the impact of the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement, a paradigmatic example of externalization, we show that the policy primarily blocked likely refugees while deflecting likely irregular migrants to alternative routes. Our findings ultimately highlight how externalization policies may fail to prevent unauthorized entries of irregular migrants while endangering refugee protection

Agency (philosophy · Business · Demographic economics · Development economics · Economic geography · Economics · European union · Externalization · Geography · International trade · Irregular migration · Political science · Refugee · Sociology · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Health and Trauma · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access