Involuntary return and crimmigration – the European perspectives

This paper grapples with the interplay between involuntary return and the convergence of criminal and migration law that accompanies this process. Crimmigration – the term originally coined by Stumpf (2006) to demonstrate the asymmetric incorporation of criminal law into migration law – now seem to have a life on its own. Academic papers are full of crimmigrant bodies (Aas 2011), gendered crimmigrants (Hartry 2012) – either being deported or detained: foreigners in carceral age (Bosworth and Kaufman 2011). The deportation regime (De Genova and Peutz 2010) seem to extend to more states, and the borders between security of residence and deportability have never been so porous.

This paper juxtaposes the above debates in the European context. I give voice to those whose ‘lives are shaped by law’ (Sarat 1990) utilizing the data stemming from 270 qualitative interviews with return migrants in Brazil, Morocco and Ukraine from Norway, Netherlands, Portugal and the UK. Based on this evidence, I contest the overwhelming ‘crimmigration’ label and propose a return to its original employment, as empirical facts inadvertently escape the overly simplistic categories and terms. I discuss the intersections of criminal and migration law and how they play out in immigrants’ everyday lives, affecting their voluntary and involuntary return.