Urbanising migration policy-making: Urban policies in support of irregular migrants in Geneva and Zürich

Abstract

Cities worldwide develop a variety of urban policies that address the precarious situation of irregular migrants. By doing so, cities intervene in a policy-making realm that is commonly perceived as the prerogative of national states and they thereby challenge the national state as the only regulatory body over immigration and citizenship. We compare policy-making in support of irregular migrants in the two biggest Swiss cities of Geneva and Zürich. Whereas Genevan authorities and local societal actors established a successful regularisation programme (called Operation Papyrus), actors in Zürich aim to create an urban ID card programme (called Züri City Card). We find that the institutional setting of the two cities (as a city-state or as a city in a state), the presence or absence of multilevel governance networks as well as societal actors’ different venue shopping strategies are key for explaining these different urban policy-making processes. Cities formulate place-based urban policy responses, but these specific urban policies can be viewed within the global struggles to improve the precarious situations of irregular migrants and to fight exclusionary national politics. In essence, this article documents and explains how cities contest national state sovereignty over immigration and citizenship and it thereby calls for an urbanisation of migration theory and practice.

Sanctuary Cities in Europe? A Policy Survey of Urban Policies in Support of Irregular Migrants

“…Future analyses could benefit from more fine-grained city-level data about relevant urban policy-making actors. Studies on local legislative bodies might be interesting, as they can play a key role in advancing urban policies in support of irregular migrants (for example, in the case of Zürich, Kaufmann and Strebel 2020). Additionally, immigrant-serving NGOs play a crucial role in pushing policy making in this field (see, for example, Kaufmann and Strebel 2020;Mayer 2018, Spencer 2020); however, there is no reliable comparative city-level data that represent this activity.…”

“…Studies on local legislative bodies might be interesting, as they can play a key role in advancing urban policies in support of irregular migrants (for example, in the case of Zürich, Kaufmann and Strebel 2020). Additionally, immigrant-serving NGOs play a crucial role in pushing policy making in this field (see, for example, Kaufmann and Strebel 2020;Mayer 2018, Spencer 2020); however, there is no reliable comparative city-level data that represent this activity. Case studies could accompany our comparative research to account for in-depth and pathdependent policy-formulation processes, as we only compare these policies in space, not in time.…”

“…This letter geographically expands sanctuary city research by comparatively examining how European cities address the precarious situation of irregular migrants. So far, these urban policies and practices in Europe have merely been examined through case studies of different European cities (see, for example, Ataç, Schütze and Reitter 2020; Kaufmann and Strebel 2020) or through policy reports that compare selective cities (see, for example, Delvino 2017). We present a systematic collection and descriptive analysis of urban policy in support of irregular migrants in Europe's 95 largest cities 2…”

Navigating the European Migration Regime

“…Contrary to Italy, and like many other North-Western European countries, Switzerland has not allowed collective amnesties. An exception to this was the recent 'Operation Papyrus' in the (liberal) canton of Geneva, where around 3,000 illegalised migrants received a residence permit (Kaufmann and Strebel, 2021). They had to be considered hardship cases and prove their continuing stay in Switzerland for at least five years (in the case of families) or ten years (in the case of single people), as well as lack of a criminal record.…”

Migration forcée et vulnérabilité éducative

“…Les estimations font état d'une zone grise de la migration à Genève d'environ 13 000 sans papiers (Kaufmann et Strebel 2021). Ce nombre confirme l'estimation fournie en 2015, qui incluait celle de 1'600 mineurs.…”