By Pisarevskaya, Asya and Scholten, Peter

This open access book develops a typology of cities by exploring how current levels of migration-related diversity and segregation relate to three groups of factors: international mobilities, inequalities and political-institutional aspects of local governance. Based on both quantitative and qualitative data from 16 cities in four European countries (France, Germany, The Netherlands, and Italy), the book compares the cities and uses a method of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. It demonstrates the shared contingencies of factors among the cities within each type and the crucial differences between the types of localities, and offers a more differentiated, holistic understanding of migration-related diversity configurations through the five conceptualised types: (1) Superdiverse cities, (2) Postindustrial diverse cities. (3) Middle class diverse cities, (4) Divided cities, and (5) Marginal migration cities. As such, the book is a valuable read to all those who would like to learn more about urban migration-related diversity and how it is formed and governed.

Cham: Springer Nature, 2025, 225p.

By Abby Córdova, Jonathan Hiskey, Mary Malone, and Diana Orcés

U.S. efforts to control unauthorized crossings of its southwest border have long rested on the idea of deterrence — if migrants know that a border is dangerous to cross and the likelihood of deportation is high, they will be dissuaded from trying in the first place. Despite the seemingly intuitive logic of this strategy, and the billions of dollars invested in it, deterrence efforts largely have failed, with the number of border crossings in recent years exceeding those of 30 years ago.

To understand why this decades-old, bipartisan deterrence strategy has proven ineffective, the authors focus on individuals from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras who have previous migration experience, with a vast majority of them seeking entry into the U.S. These individuals have direct knowledge of the difficulties and dangers a border crossing poses, yet many report plans to try to cross the border again. To understand why they persist, the authors rely on survey data specifically collected to better understand the root causes of international migration.

Journal on Migration and Human SecurityVolume 12, Issue 3, September 2024, Pages 160-181