| Abstract: | Despite the heightened awareness of irregular migrations worldwide, a certain misappreciation or underestimation of the saliency of irregular migration issues persists. Conflict in the strife-torn Indian state of Assam, for example, has been widely publicized, but its roots in immigration issues linked to communal tensions are insufficiently understood. Conflict around the globe seems increasingly to involve, both as cause and effect, migrants in irregular status whose problematical or illegitimate presence itself is at issue. The global recession prompted governments in immigration-welcoming countries to adopt more restrictive stances vis-a-vis immigration at a time when global migratory pressures were expanding enormously. As if by a process of demonstration effect, 1 country after another began to view migratory flows with alarm--flows which previously had been regarded as benign or quantitatively unimportant. Part I of this special issue examines a variety of public responses to irregular migration. Part II looks at legalization issues in a number of national contexts. Part III contains 3 comparative reflections on immigration reform in industrial democracies. Part IV provides an overview and sampling of recent empirical and survey research findings on irregular status migrants, primarily in the US. This special issue is intended to encourage further research on irregular migration, foster better understanding of this complex phenomenon, and contribute to enlightened public policy-making. |
