By Olivier Marie and Paolo Pinotti

The association between immigration and crime has long been a subject of debate, and only recently have we encountered systematic empirical evidence on this issue. Data shows that immigrants, often younger, male, and less educated compared to natives, are disproportionately represented among offenders in numerous host countries. However, existing research, inclusive of our analysis of new international data, consistently indicates that immigration does not significantly impact local crime rates in these countries. Furthermore, recent studies underscore that obtaining legal status diminishes immigrants' involvement in criminal activities. Finally, we discuss potential explanations for the apparent incongruity between immigrants' overrepresentation among offenders and the null effect of immigration on crime rates.

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES. VOL. 38, NO. 1, WINTER 2024. (pp. 181-200)

Edited by Evyn Lê Espiritu Gandhi and Vinh Nguyen

This Handbook presents a transnational and interdisciplinary study of refugee narratives, broadly defined. Interrogating who can be considered a refugee and what constitutes a narrative, the thirty-eight chapters included in this collection encompass a range of forcibly displaced subjects, a mix of geographical and historical contexts, and a variety of storytelling modalities. Analyzing novels, poetry, memoirs, comics, films, photography, music, social media, data, graffiti, letters, reports, eco-design, video games, archival remnants, and ethnography, the individual chapters counter dominant representations of refugees as voiceless victims. Addressing key characteristics and thematics of refugee narratives, this Handbook examines how refugee cultural productions are shaped by and in turn shape socio-political landscapes. It will be of interest to researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners committed to engaging refugee narratives in the contemporary moment.

London; New York: Routledge, 2023. 528p. 

Edited by Andrea Rea,  Marco Martiniello. Alessanro Mazzola and  Bart Meuleman

The refugee question occupied centre stage at every political debate in Europe since 2015. Starting from the "long summer of migration", the polarization of opinions and attitudes towards asylum seekers among citizens of the EU has grown increasingly. The divergence between hospitality and hostility has also become evident in political reactions.

Bruxelles: Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2019. 256p.

By Viktor Marsai

Cooperation with “gatekeeper countries” — transit countries that can help mitigate the flow of irregular migrants — is a key instrument used by Europe to protect its borders, and should be used more consistently by the United States.1

Such collaboration could prevent millions of people from illegally entering destination countries. Without the assistance of those gatekeepers, Europe would have faced a much higher number of illegal immigrants. Therefore, this type of collaboration could be seen as a cornerstone of European migration policy. The United States, on the other hand, pays less attention to gatekeeper states, and focuses on the thin border line as the main protection strategy.

Gatekeeper countries, of course, are only part of the solution, and the concept must be integrated into a much broader and complex immigration and border protection policy that includes physical barriers, human resources, deterrence factors, and a consistent application of existing rules (e.g., detention and deportation). But an effective border regime cannot exist without the cooperation of transit countries.

This paper compares the role of gatekeeper countries in the European and the U.S. contexts. It analyzes the ways different actors are utilizing (or not) transit countries to reduce the number of illegal arrivals. It argues that different historic, economic, and social developments have shaped and altered policies and strategic thinking in the transatlantic region.

Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies, 2023. 12p.

Edited by Veronica Federico • Simone Baglioni

This open access book discusses how, and to what extent, the legal and institutional regimes and the socio-cultural environments of a range of European countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the UK), in the framework of EU laws and policies, have a beneficial or negative impact on the effective capacity of these countries to integrate migrants, refugees and asylum seekers into their labour markets. The analysis builds on the understanding of socio-cultural, institutional and legal factors as “barriers” or “enablers”; elements that may facilitate or obstruct the integration processes. The book examines the two dimensions of integration being access to the labour market (which, translated into a rights language means the right to work) with its corollaries (recognition of qualifications, vocational training, etc.), and non-discriminatory working conditions (which, translated into a rights language means right to both formal and substantial equality) and its corollaries of benefits and duties deriving from joining the labour market. It thereby offers a novel approach to labour market integration and migration/asylum issues given its focus on legal aspects, which includes most recent policy changes and legal decisions (including litigation cases). The robust, evidence-based and comparative research illustrated in the book provides academics and students, but also practitioners and policy makers, with up to date knowledge that will likely impact positively on policy changes needed to better address integration conundrums.

Cham: Springer Nature/Imiscoe, 2021. 264p.

By Sabine de Graaf

This literature review summarises research that has been conducted on the impact of family separation on a child, demonstrating how separation from a parent can cause harm to a child. The purpose of the reviews is to provide an indepth overview of recent academic insights and discussions on the impact of ‘family separation’ from a number of different perspectives and contexts and focusses on academic literature from various disciplines published in the past 10 years. [1] The first part of the review considers the impact of family separation in a general context of imprisonment, looking at the impact of parental incarcerations, as well as the specifics of incarceration of either the mother or the father on a child. The second part of the review demonstrates that similar negative impacts on children are seen in the context of family separation as a result of deportation. [1] The main question considered to define the literature review was: What is the impact of family separation on the well-being of children? Literature was sought via Google Scholar, narrowing the search from a period covering 2010-2020. The focus is on studies undertaken in the UK, supplemented by studies done in the US. The key words for the search that were used in a variety of combinations were: family separation, parental incarceration, parental imprisonment, paternal imprisonment, maternal imprisonment. Bibliographies of relevant literature results were cross-referenced to find further relevant studies and discover emerging themes and debates such as the role of family factors in intergenerational transmission of offending (discussed in 1.3).  

London: Bail for Immigration Detainee, 2020. 21p.

Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek, N. Ela Gökalp-Aras, Ayhan Kaya, Susan Beth Rottmann

This open access book provides a comprehensive analysis of Turkey’s response to Syrian mass migration from 2011 to 2020. It examines internal and external dimensions of the refugee issue in relation to Middle Eastern geopolitics as well as the salience of controlling irregular migration to the European Union. The book focuses on policies and discourses developed in the fields of border management, reception, asylum and protection, and integration of refugees with an emphasis on continuities, ruptures and changes. One of its main goals is to compare differences in policy practices across provinces in order to better capture ways in which Syrian refugees claim agency, develop belonging and experience integration in the context of cultural intimacy, precarity and temporariness. By providing rich empirical evidence, this book provides a valuable resource for students and scholars in migration studies, political science, anthropology, sociology and public administration disciplines as well as policy makers, stakeholders and the general public.

Springer Cham