Agency, Inclusion and Political Mobilisation of Irregular Migrants

Abstract

The literature on irregular migration often deals with migration policies and the role of states. A smaller body of literature focuses on the role that irregular migrants themselves have, or can have. This chapter will explore the agency that irregular migrants have to influence their own migration trajectory. Moreover, it will discuss how irregular migrants can use their agency to become incorporated into the societies in which they reside despite their irregular status. By using a broad notion of citizenship, we will consider how irregular migrants can use their agency to obtain forms of inclusion, other than through regularisations, and how they can have the capacity to trigger political and social change despite their irregular status. This chapter will elaborate on social movements of irregular migrants.