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Add to Preferred Sources• Lawful migration channels are often suggested as a tool to reduce unlawful migration, but often without much evidence that they work.
• There is evidence that lawful channels for migration between Mexico and the United States have suppressed unlawful migration, but only when combined with robust enforcement efforts.
• Massive demographic pressures for migration between Africa and Europe will continue to resemble past pressures between Mexico and United States. The evidence from the US suggests that lawful channels could be a critical tool for Europe, alongside enforcement to suppress unlawful migration.
Richer countries are under pressure to respond to and regulate high levels of irregular migration reaching their borders. A prominent recommendation is for richer countries to expand opportunities for lawful or regular migration.
Suppose they do. Will more regular migration simply raise migration overall, or will it substitute for and reduce irregular migration? The question underlies discussions around the Global Compact for Migration, a future international agreement on migration governance now being negotiated by United Nations Member States.
Interdicting and returning irregular migrants is the current, worldwide focus of efforts to regulate irregular migration. It can stop some, specific irregular migrants in the short run. But it comes at a substantial cost: migrants continue to pursue irregular (and often more dangerous) journeys, funneling more money to smugglers to make that journey happen. Simultaneously, the countries deterring migrants lose out on the labor many would have provided and that many countries need.
Original source: Center for Global Development
Published on 15 February 2018