Roma migrant children in Catalonia: between the politics of benevolence and the normalization of violence

Abstract

In this article, I engage with the current debate on Roma migrant children. Taking Catalonia as a case study, I tackle the separation of Romani children from their parents and the completion of pay-to-go schemes for marginalized Romanian Roma families. The focus lies within the allegedly humane logic of state institutions and civil-society organizations that reflect structural oppression and unveil everyday racism against Roma as a group. Specifically, I seek to explain the relation between the "voluntary return" practices and programs for child protection. The benevolent practices towards the migrant Roma families are considered to be grounded on child well-being. At the same time, the common and widespread practice of pay-to-go for poor Romani migrants push the families into a vicious circle of forced mobility. Therefore, I employ the theories of humanitarianism, and the critiques on the politics of benevolence, to reveal the institutional racism against the Romani migrants.

The Bureaucratic Capture of Child Migrants: Effects of In/visibility on Children On the Move

“…These notions have been used to justify new control measures in several Western member states, including cash incentives to leave state territory and “administrative removals” (Nagy ). A further, but hidden technology of control is heightened supervision of Roma children in their domestic space and the threat of removing children from families and placing them into state care (Vrăbiescu ). Roma migrants try to remain invisible in daily bureaucratic welfare encounters to avoid the internal bureaucratic boundaries that now represent the borders of European welfare states (van Baar ; Yıldız and De Genova ).…”

Dwelling in Limbo. Temporality in the Governance of Romani Migrants in Spain

“…(Estela, Madrid, 2015) Once the topic shifts from economic needs to child protection, the entire explanation of social intervention can often gain another level of depth: the focus on children's safety changes the responsibility of the state towards migrants. The fortified child protection system in Spain often affects migrant children disproportionately, and in a perverse way also the safety of Romani migrant families (Humphris 2017;Vrăbiescu 2017). Following the design of social projects that focus on children, funding is channelled in the same direction, attracting experts, social workers, NGO and private initiatives to compete in offering services.…”

On the perpetuation and contestation of racial stigma: Urban Roma in a disadvantaged neighbourhood of Szeged

“…By being less focused on relevant relations, interactions and experiences of the Roma people (Grill, 2018), the existing literature on Roma tends to focus more on disadvantages visible in relations with the state institutions, as well as the impact of punitive policies. State discrimination and the mechanisms of governing Roma migration (Humphris, 2019;Picker, 2017;Toma & Fosztó, 2018;van Baar et al, 2019;Vrăbiescu, 2017), as well as its ghettoised and racialised education and socioeconomic position (Berescu, 2011(Berescu, , 2019Clough Marinaro, 2017;Filčák & Steger, 2014;Ivasiuc, 2020;McElroy, 2020;O'Nions, 2010;Picker, 2017;Vincze & Raţ, 2013;Vincze, 2019;Voiculescu, 2019) are issues that have been extensively debated, yet little is known about the everyday manifestations of contemporary stigmatisation of the Roma (see Creţan et al, 2021;Pulay, 2018).…”