The Importance of Being Southern: The Making of Policies of Immigration Control in Italy

Abstract

Th e distinction between 'weak' Southern European and 'strong' Northern European migration regimes has often been used to explain the shortcomings of Italian immigration policies. Th is article challenges such a bipolar perspective, by analyzing Italy's evolution as an immigration country beyond the so-called the 'Southern' regime stereotype. We show that the unsatisfactory outcomes of Italian mechanisms of immigration controls are not necessarily the epiphany of a weak policy apparatus. We argue that they are the result of a much more complex mix of factors shaping Italian immigration policies since the 1980s: unrealistic policy goals, contradictory international pressures, structural internal constraints and fragile party coalitions.

Irregular status, territorial confinement, and blocked transnationalism: legal constraints on circulation and remittances of Senegalese migrants in France, Italy, and Spain

“…Furthermore, the insecurity associated with an irregular status may encourage some migrants to remit: in contexts where the risk of deportation is high, remitting is a way to insure that money earned abroad will remain accessible in case of forced return (Pozo, 2005). These two arguments could explain the specificity of the Spanish results: on the one hand, the higher percentage of migrants with irregular status in this country (21 %, see Table 1) reduces the potential number of co-ethnics able to travel home with remittances due to territorial confinement; on the other hand, the relative tranquility of irregular migrants in Spain (Carnet, 2007;Tandian & Bergh, 2014) compared to those subject to harsh policies in France and Italy (Finotelli & Sciortino, 2009;Schain, 2008)-at least in some periods-may explain the finding that irregular migrants are less prone to remit in Spain than in the two other countries. In any case, the relationship between legal status and remitting is heavily dependent on the context of reception.…”

“…A third mechanism could be related to the policy pressure exerted by governments on irregular migrants. Compared to migrants with irregular status in France and Spain, who face harsh deportation policies (Finotelli & Sciortino, 2009;Schain, 2008), irregular migrants in Spain have lived under a more tolerant policy regime where regularizations are common and even migrants in irregular status have access to health services, education, and public housing (Tandian & Bergh, 2014;Van Nieuwenhuyze, 2008). Senegalese in Spain face a lower risk of deportation than Senegalese in France and Italy, and may thus be less likely to engage in remitting as insurance policy against forced return (Pozo, 2005).…”

Migration Policymaking in Europe: The Dynamics of Actors and Contexts in Past and Present

“…Such patterns can be attributed not only to these nations' economic structure or geographical location, but also to their immigration policies. A discrepancy between planned legal inflows and the society's actual needs (Finotelli & Sciortino 2009 Minor regularisations were initially introduced in 1977 and 1982, though the major ones started in 1986. The largest regularisation -of more than 600,000 persons -was passed in 2002 by a centre-right government.…”

Regularisation of unauthorised immigrants in Italy and Spain: determinants and effects

“…Therefore, this inadequate immigration legislation, together with growing migration numbers and an expanding informal economy, stirred the increase in illegal migration (Finotelli & Sciortino, 2009). As a result, most employers started hiring foreign workers who were already living in the country as irregular immigrants.…”

“…And yet, and in contrast to the events in Northern European countries, public acceptance of regularisations in Southern Europe was deeply embedded in the economic legitimation of immigration (Finotelli & Sciortino, 2009). In addition, the possibility that regularised immigrants become unemployed does not pose a threat to Italian or Spanish welfare regimes, as their unemployment benefits are rather low or short-term fixed and universal social assistance is almost non-existent.…”