Le industrie della migrazione nel nesso tra mobilità, immobilità e insediamento. Una panoramica

Journal title MONDI MIGRANTI
Author/s Nicola Montagna, Panos Hatziprokopiou, Francesco Della Puppa
Publishing Year 2024 Issue 2024/2
Language English Pages 22 P. 39-60 File size 200 KB
DOI 10.3280/MM2024-002002
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

This introduction aims to give a brief overview of research on the migration industries, based on our definition of the migration industry as all those eco-nomic and financial activities developing between people on the move and the border, we categorise the literature that focuses on this topic around the nexus of mobility, immobility and settlement. We suggest reading and interpreting the research along three main dimensions, depending on where migration in-dustry actors intervene in the relationship between people on the move and the border: a migration industry that facilitates mobility and border crossing and involves actors ranging from smuggling networks to global recruitment agen-cies; an immobility migration industry that involves state and private actors aiming to regulate and/or control the movement of people; and a migration in-dustry that is not concerned with the journey itself, but with the settlement of migrants. Various migration industry actors are present in all these stages, re-configuring their roles, shifting their activities, and responding to new and dis-tinct opportunities for/of the commodification and commercialisation of mi-gration. For these reasons, as will be argued in the introduction to this mono-graph issue, the notion of industries rather than a single industry better reflects the variety of actors and activities operating between migrant agency and border along the different stages of migration projects.

Keywords: migration industries; mobility; immobility; border; field.

  1. Alloush M., Taylor J.E., Gupta A., Rojas Valdes R.I. and Gonzalez-Estrada E. (2017). Economic Life in Refugee Camps. World Development, 95: 334-347;
  2. Achilli L. (2018). The “good” smuggler: the ethics and morals of human smuggling among Syrians. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci, 676, 1: 77-96; DOI: 10.1177/0002716217746641/
  3. Akkerman M. (2021). Financing Border Wars: The border industry, its financiers and human rights. Transnational Institute and Stop Wapenhandel; https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/financing bord
  4. Ambrosini M. (2021). The battleground of asylum and immigration policies: a conceptual inquiry. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44, 3: 374-395; DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2020.1836380/
  5. Andersson R. (2014). Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe. Oakland: University of California Press.
  6. Aziani A. (2023). The heterogeneity of human smugglers: a reflection on the use of concepts in studies on the smuggling of migrants. Trends Organ Crim, 26: 80-106;
  7. Balibar E. (2004). We, the people of Europe. Princeton: Princeton Uni Press.
  8. Bartolini L., Mantanika R. and Triandafyllidou A. (2020). Emerging Reception Economies: A View from Southern Europe. In: Spencer S. and Triandafyllidou A., eds., Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe: Evolving Conceptual and Policy Challenges. Springer International Publishing; DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-34324-8_9/
  9. Bernt M., Hamann U., El-Kayed,N. and Keskinkilic L. (2022). Internal migration industries: Shaping the housing options for refugees at the local level. Urban Studies, 59, 11: 2217-2233.
  10. Bourdieu P. (2023). Habitus and Field. General Sociology Vol. 2. Lectures at the College de France (1982-1983). Cambridge: Polity Press.
  11. Campomori A. and Ambrosini M. (2020). Multilevel governance in trouble: the implementation of asylum seekers’ reception in Italy as a battleground. Comparative Migration Studies, 8, 22;
  12. Castles M. and Miller S. (1998). The age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World (2nd ed.).Basingstoke: Macmillan.
  13. Coddington K., Conlon D. and Martin L.L. (2020). Destitution Economies: Circuits of Value in Asylum, Refugee, and Migration Control. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110, 5: 1425-1444; DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2020.1715196/
  14. Cohen N., Fogelman T. and Lebuhn H. (2022). Making cities through migration industries: Introduction to the special issue. Urban Studies, 59, 11: 2161-2178; DOI: 10.1177/00420980221094709/
  15. Cohen R. (1977). Global Diasporas: An Introduction. London: University College London Press.
  16. Collins F.L. (2021). Geographies of migration I: Platform migration. Progress in Human Geography, 45, 4: 866-877;
  17. Conlon D. and Hiemstra N. (2022). “Unpleasant” but “helpful”: Immigration detention and urban entanglements in New Jersey. USA. Urban Studies, 59, 11: 2179-2198; DOI: 10.1177/00420980211072695/
  18. Cranston S., Schapendonk J. and Spaan E. (2018). New directions in exploring the migration industries: introduction to special issue. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44, 4: 543-557; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1315504/
  19. Darling J. (2016). Privatising asylum: Neoliberalisation, depoliticisation and the governance of forced migration. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 41, 3: 230-243;
  20. De Haas H. (2023). How Migration Really Works: A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics. London: Penguin.
  21. Debonneville J. (2021). An organizational approach to the Philippine migration industry: recruiting, matching and tailoring migrant domestic workers. Comparative Migration Studies, 9, 1: 1-21;
  22. Della Puppa F. and Sanò G. (2021). The prism of new mobilities. The mobility trajectories of refugees and asylum seekers outside the Italian reception system. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 26, 5: 503-527; DOI: 10.1080/1354571X.2021.1943211/
  23. Timoth D.J. and Gelman A., eds. (2023). Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Borders. Oxon: Routledge.
  24. Fiałkowska K. and Napierała J. (2013). Mapping the Market for Employment Agencies in Poland. In: Friberg J.H. and Eldring L., eds., Labour Migrants from Central and Eastern Europe in the Nordic Countries. Patterns of Migration, Working Conditions and Recruitment Practices. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.
  25. Gammeltoft-Hansen T. and Sørensen N.N., eds. (2013). The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration. London: Routledge.
  26. Godin M. (2021). The rise of the border and surveillance industry and why you should be concerned; https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/pandemic-border/rise-border-and-surveillance-industry-and-why-you-should-be-concerned/ (accessed 10 July 2024).
  27. Godin M. and Donà G. (2021). Rethinking Transit Zones: Migrant Trajectories and Transnational Networks in Techno-Borderscapes. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47, 14: 3276-3292; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1804193/
  28. Golash-Boza T. (2009). The Immigration Industrial Complex: Why We Enforce Immigration Policies Destined to Fail. Sociology Compass, 3, 2: 295-309;
  29. Hall S., King J. and Finlay R. (2017). Migrant infrastructure: Transaction economies in Birmingham and Leicester, UK. Urban Studies, 54, 6: 1311-1327; DOI: 10.1177/0042098016634586/
  30. Hansen R. (2023). War, Work, and Want: How the OPEC Oil Crisis Caused Mass Migration and Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  31. Harney R.F. (1977). The Commerce of Migration. Canadian Ethnic Studies/Etudes Ethniques du Canada, 9: 42-53.
  32. Hernández-León R. (2013). Conceptualizing the migration industry. In: Gammeltoft-Hansen T. and Sørensen N.N., eds., The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration. London: Routledge.
  33. Hernández-León R. (2005). The Migration Industry in the Mexico-U.S. Migratory System, UCLA: California Center for Population Research; https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hg44330/.
  34. Ikizoglu Erensu A. and Kaşli Z. (2016). A Tale of Two Cities: Multiple Practices of Bordering and Degrees of “Transit” in and through Turkey. Journal of Refugee Studies, 29, 4: 528-548.
  35. Jansen B.J. (2020). Cities in the Making: Contours of the Urbanizing Refugee Camp; https://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/ migration/ kurzdossiers/307980/urbanizing/.
  36. Jeandesboz J. (2021). Technology, knowledge and the governing of migration. In: Carmel E., Lenner K. and Paul R., eds., Handbook on the Governance and Politics of Migration. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub.
  37. Jones C., Kilpatrick J. and Maccanico Y. (2022). At what cost? Funding the EU’s security, defence, and border policies, 2021-2027. Statewatch and the Transnational Institute; https://www.statewatch.org/media/3272/at-what-cost-eu-security-budgets-2021-27-sw-tni.pdf/.
  38. Jung F.R. and Buhr F. (2022). Channelling mobilities: migrant-owned businesses as mobility infrastructures. Mobilities, 17, 1: 119-135.
  39. Kyle D. (2000). Transnational Peasants: Migration, networks and ethnicity in Andean Ecuador. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
  40. Lemberg-Pedersen M. (2018). Security, industry and migration in European border control. In: Wiener A., Bonjour S. and Zhyznomirska L., eds., The Routledge Handbook of Migration and Politics in Europe. London: Routledge.
  41. Lemberg-Pedersen M., Hansen J.R. and Halpern O.J. (2020). The Political Economy of Entry Governance, ADMIGOV Deliverable 1.3, Copenhagen: Aalborg University; http://admigov.eu/.
  42. López-Sala A. and Godenau D. (2022). In private hands? The markets of migration control and the politics of outsourcing. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48, 7: 1610-1628; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1857229/
  43. Maher S. (2018). Out of West Africa: Human Smuggling as a Social Enterprise. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 676, 1: 36-56; DOI: 10.1177/0002716217743935/
  44. Martin L.L. (2021). Carceral economies of migration control. Progress in Human Geography, 45, 4: 740-757.
  45. McCollum D. and Findlay A. (2018). Oiling the wheels? Flexible labour markets and the migration industry. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44: 558-574; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1315505/
  46. McCollum D., Shubin S., Apsite E. and Krisjane Z. (2013). Re-thinking Labour Migration Channels: The Experience of Latvia from EU Accession to Economic Recession. Population, Space and Place, 19: 688-702.
  47. McDowell L., Batnitzky A. and Dyer S. (2008). Internationalization and the Spaces of Temporary Labour: The Global Assembly of a Temporary Workforce. British Journal of International Relations, 46, 4: 750-770;
  48. McGarrigle J. and Ascensão E. (2017). Emplaced Mobilities: Lisbon as a Translocality in the Migration Journeys of Punjabi Sikhs to Europe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44, 5: 809-828.
  49. Mezzadra S. and Neilson B. (2013). Border as Method, or the Multiplication of labour. Dyrham: Duke University Press.
  50. Montagna N., Della Puppa F. and Kofman E. (2021). Introduction to the Special Issue: Onward Migration in a Changing Europe, International Migration, 59, 6: 16-28;
  51. Montagna N., Gorza P., Moscatelli R. and Perino M. (2024). Border regimes, shifting temporalities and migrant responses. An analysis of the route between the Eastern Mediterranean and the North-western French-Italian border, Italian Sociological Review, 14, 9S: 277-297;
  52. Pacciardi A. and Berndtsson J. (2022). EU border externalisation and security outsourcing: Exploring the migration industry in Libya. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48, 17: 4010-4028; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2022.2061930/
  53. Pastore F., Monzini P. and Sciortino G. (2006). Schengen’s Soft Underbelly? Irregular Migration and Human Smuggling across Land and Sea Borders to Italy. International Migration, 44, 4: 95-119;
  54. Reitano T. (2018). Smugglers Inc.: The Illicit Industry in Human Migration. In: Reitano T., Jesperson S. and Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo L.B., eds., Militarised Responses to Transnational Organised Crime. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham; DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-57565-0_12/
  55. Salt J. and Stein J. (2002). Migration as Business: The Case of Trafficking. International Migration, 35: 467-494.
  56. Sanchez G.A. and Antonopoulos G.E. (2023). Irregular migration in the time of counter-smuggling. Trends in Organized Crime, 26: 1-12;
  57. Sanò G. and Della Puppa F. (2021). The multiple facets of (im)mobility. A multisited ethnography on territorialisation experiences and mobility trajectories of asylum seekers and refugees outside the Italian reception system. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 26, 5: 552-568; DOI: 10.1080/1354571X.2021.1943209/
  58. Sørensen N.N. and Gammeltoft-Hansen T. (2013). Introduction. In: Gammeltoft-Hansen T. and Sørensen N.N., eds., The Migration Industry and the Commercialization of International Migration. London: Routledge.
  59. Spaan E. and Van Naerssen T. (2018). Migration Decision-making and Migration Industry in the Indonesia-Malaysia Corridor. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44, 4: 680-695; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1315523/
  60. Van den Broek D., Harvey W. and Groutsis D. (2016). Commercial Migration Intermediaries and the Segmentation of Skilled Migrant Employment. Work, Employment and Society, 30, 3: 523-534.
  61. Werker E. (2007). Refugee Camp Economies. Journal of Refugee Studies, 20, 3: 461-480;
  62. Xiang B. and Lindquist J. (2014). Migration Infrastructure. International Migration Review, 48, S1: 122-148;
  63. Yuval-Davis N., Wemyss G. and Cassidy K. (2019). Bordering. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  64. Žabko O., Aasland A. and Endresen S.B. (2018). Facilitating labour migration from Latvia: strategies of various categories of intermediaries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44: 575-591; DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2017.1315508/

Nicola Montagna, Panos Hatziprokopiou, Francesco Della Puppa, Migration industries around the nexus of mobility, immobility and settlement. An overview in "MONDI MIGRANTI" 2/2024, pp 39-60, DOI: 10.3280/MM2024-002002