A. S. Leerkes

• Professor
• Professor at Maastricht University

Recent decades have seen a significant rise in return and readmission frameworks. Scholars note a trend towards informalization, incentivization and Europeanization. Yet, no study has thoroughly evaluated with advanced regression techniques how the resulting frameworks impact migrant return and whether different types of frameworks affect migrant r...

In recent decades, scholars documented the rise of enforced return in the Global North and scrutinised the vast infrastructure, international diplomacy and in‐country measures that set out to boost these. One such way is by promoting so‐called ‘Assisted Voluntary Returns’: programs in which rejected asylum seekers allegedly have ample opportunity t...

Based on 20 countries across Europe, North America and North Africa, this report synthesises key trends and patterns of national policy approaches towards migrant irregularity, highlighting commonalities and differences across various contexts. In particular, this report examines three key research questions: how have irregular migration policies e...

Irregular migrants are legally excluded from formal employment, regular housing markets, and unemployment benefits, and in the Netherlands, they are also excluded from governmentally funded homeless shelters. While alternative sheltering arrangements have emerged for specific irregular migrants (e.g. minors, victims of human trafficking), unaccompa...

In this special issue, we seek explanations for international- and local-level variations in policy approaches to ‘irregularized humanitarian migrants’, who left their country of citizenship in hopes of finding protection abroad but do not, or no longer, hold a permanent legal status. We shed light on different policy responses and experiences acro...

Objectives Self-reported criminal behaviour has the potential to provide clearer insights into patterns of criminality compared to using police statistics. The risk of inaccurate responses however forms a major obstacle to its validity. This study therefore examines underreporting bias of self-reported criminal behaviour among five ethnic groups an...

Return through legitimacy. Alternatives for deterrence policy for irregular migrants Policies that seek to limit unwanted migration - which include governmental efforts to promote the return of rejected asylum seekers and (other) irregular migrants - tend to depend on negative sanctions and deterrence. Such policies are known to come with various u...

Caseworkers of the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V), responsible for enforcing return orders in the Netherlands, systematically orchestrate “return conversations” with rejected asylum seekers and apprehended irregular migrants in hopes of realising the return of their “clients” without physical force. Based on semi‐structured interviews, w...

The struggle for recognition of undocumented migrants is usually portrayed as a public affair involving the contestation of legal status. We advance a broader conceptualization that demands attention to the more intimate sphere where relational processes of recognition take place in interactions with significant others. Based on 70 in-depth intervi...

Rejected asylum seekers do often not return to their countries of origin and face precarious living conditions in destination countries. Taking Germany as a strategic case, we investigate whether labor‐related regularization, or “laborization,” may serve as a solution for such migrants. We analyze the factors determining access to such regularizati...

There is considerable international and local-level variation in immigrant crime. In this article, we propose a theoretical model to better understand that contextual variation. Furthermore, we present the results of our first attempts to empirically assess the validity of the framework, focussing on local-level variation in crime among residents o...

This article considers the legitimacy deficits of immigration control in the eyes of unwanted migrants. We explore the consequences of globalisation-related changes in the institution of citizenship for the perceived legitimacy and operation of immigration control. The study is based on ethnographic research and in-depth interviews in 2018 with 35...

Real and perceived risks of deportation may compromise the effective right of irregular migrants to report to the police if they have been a victim of crime. Some localities have therefore introduced so-called ‘firewall protection’, providing a clear separation between the provision of public services and immigration enforcement. This article explo...

There is considerable variation in how countries deal with the presence of migrants lacking a legal right to stay. We present an analysis of the post-arrival migration enforcement regimes of European countries using a two-phased mixed-methods approach. The article (1) provides the currently best possible statistical overview of forced and assisted...

This research and knowledge-exchange project explores law, policy and practices surrounding the reporting of crime by irregular migrants in the USA and four European countries (Belgium, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands); and assesses the legal and political “replicability” of relevant experiences from the USA in European contexts. The project focu...

This report was drafted at the request of the Long-Term Resident Foreigners Committee, also known as Van Zwol Committee. It provides an overview of the policy approaches in selected EU and Schengen associated countries (‘EU+ countries’) regarding the return and presence of rejected asylum seekers. We comparatively investigate the policy factors th...

Immigrants and their native-born children tend to be overrepresented among crime suspects in Europe. Using a representative Dutch survey, we examine whether inhabitants of Turkish and Moroccan origin also self-report more crimes than the native Dutch. In addition, we test various explanations for ethnic differences in crime, partly using variables...

Immigrants and their native-born children tend to be overrepresented among crime suspects in Europe. Using a representative Dutch survey, we examine whether inhabitants of Turkish and Moroccan origin also self-report more crimes than the native Dutch. Additionally, we test various explanations for ethnic differences in crime, partly employing varia...

Contrary to natural born citizens, migrants can have a variety of legal statuses depending on how they are classified by immigration law. Together, such legal or ‘civic’ statuses constitute a system of civic stratification, from high (privileged) to low (restricted). Recent scholarship highlights the relevance of immigration law for understanding c...

Immigration detention is formally not a punishment, but governments do use it to deter illegal residence. This study examines whether and how immigration detention affects detainees’ decision-making processes regarding departure, thereby possibly resulting in de facto “specific deterrence.” Semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted in t...

The establishment of an asylum seekers’ reception centre – in Dutch: ‘COA location’ – is frequently accompanied by protests from local residents who fear that the arrival of such a centre will lead to an increase in crime. Such worries have already prompted earlier research. This report answers two central questions that have still remained unanswe...

States experience difficulties in realizing the return of rejected asylum seekers, but migration control policies are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Against this background, we consider explanations for the increase in Assisted Voluntary Return from the Netherlands in the 2005-2011 period. Both macro-level factors (source country societal con...

This article analyses the contested nature of the contemporary intra-EU mobility regime after the EU enlargement of 2004 and 2007. Migration from the new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has evolved into one of the main migration flows within Europe, especially to Northern and Western European countries. We will analyse three di...

http://www.socialevraagstukken.nl/herziening-van-de-termen-autochtoon-en-allochtoon-is-nodig-afschaffen-hernoemen-of-herdefinieren/

Theoretically based personal reflection on how to regulate 'unwanted' migration. It offers an alternative to the increased criminalisation of illegal migration. Part of a book edited by Serge Carrera and Elspeth Guild for the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, De Swaan, a historical sociologist, speculated that heightened global interconnectedness, and the resulting increased potential for international migration, would lead to transnational social policies. In this view, states of richer countries would increasingly perceive an interest in financing social policies in...

Deze policy brief richt zich op deze categorie asielzoekers die statushouders wordt genoemd. De kwestie die centraal staat is hoe de integratie van statushouders kan worden bespoedigd. Slechts een op de drie statushouders in Nederland van 15-64 jaar heeft een betaalde baan en velen zijn duurzaam afhankelijk van een bijstandsuitkering. Veel jonge me...

This policy brief focuses on this category of asylum seekers, who are referred to as permit holders. The key question is how we can accelerate the process of integration of permit holders. Just one in three permit holders between the ages of 15 and 64 living in the Netherlands have a paid job and many are permanently dependent on social assistance...

There are large differences in the European Union (and EFTA countries) in the percentage of asylum requests that states recognise. Of all first instance decisions taken in the EU in the first three quarters of 2015, 47% were recognitions, but that percentage varied from 91% in Bulgaria down to 7% in Latvia. Such rates cannot be compared easily beca...

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, De Swaan, a historical sociologist, speculated that heightened global interconnectedness, and the resulting increased potential for international migration, would lead to transnational social policies. In this view, states of richer countries would increasingly perceive an interest in financing social policies in...

With an English summary

An evaluation of the selective criminalisation of illegal residence under the EU Return Directive. With an English Summmary

Governments increasingly exclude unauthorized migrants from labor markets and public provisions and apprehend those who have settled in the territory. In the U.S., recent increases in interior control coincided with a reduction in (the growth of) the estimated unauthorized population. This study describes the mechanisms through which interior contr...

Marriage migration has become the most common form of immigration from Turkey to the Netherlands. The Dutch government increasingly pursues restrictive admission policies for the immigration of partners from non-EU countries. This article shows that the tightened income and age restrictions were to some extent successful in limiting Turkish marriag...

In this article we develop an empirically grounded typology of labour migration patterns among migrants from Central and Eastern Europe, based on two dimensions: attachment to the destination country and attachment to the country of origin. We conducted a survey (N=654) among labour migrants in the Netherlands from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. We...

In most EU countries and the United States, immigration detention is defined as an administrative, non-punitive measure to facilitate expulsion. This chapter argues that immigration detention in the Netherlands serves three informal functions in addition to its formal function as an instrument of expulsion: (1) deterring illegal residence, (2) cont...

Inleiding In de afgelopen jaren hebben diverse instanties en wetenschappers kritiek geuit op de Nederlandse praktijk van vreemdelingendetentie (zie bijvoorbeeld Amnesty International, Ist, 2010). Die kritiek richt zich op diverse aspecten van vreemdelingendetentie, waaronder de detentieduur, de detentieomstandigheden en de rechterlijke toet‐ sing v...

With a summary in English

Governments are increasingly developing policies to apprehend and deport unauthorized migrants. Compared to the United States, the legal and administrative framework in Western European countries generally allows for a stricter interior policing of unauthorized migrants. This article describes and explains the limits to in-country migration policin...

Both the number of crime suspects without legal status and the number of irregular or undocumented immigrants held in detention facilities increased substantially in theNetherlands between 1997 and 2003. In this period, theDutch state increasingly attempted to exclude irregular immigrants from the formal labour market and public provisions. At the...

Governments at various levels of administration increasingly try to exclude unauthorised migrants from labour markets and public provisions, and apprehend and deport unauthorised migrants who have settled in the territory. This article demonstrates that such policies and practices of ‘internal border control’ can be approximated empirically; it is...

Asylum migrants who have exhausted all legal remedies are supposed to return to their country of origin. This study, in which 108 respondents participated, attempts to explain why some migrants intend to return in these circumstances, while others opt for illegal residence or onward migration. It appears that the relatively low degree of voluntary...

In recent years, several European countries have tightened the criteria for the legal immigration of a partner from outside the EU. In the Netherlands, the income requirement for `family formation' was raised in 2004 from 100% to 120% of the minimum wage, potentially excluding about thirty percent of the working population from eligibility. The out...

In januari 2007 traden Bulgarije en Roemenie toe tot de Europese Unie (EU). De toetreding van beide landen leidde tot een toename van het aantal Bulgaren en Roemenen in Nederland. Omdat velen van hen zich niet registreren in de GBA is het lastig om exacte cijfers te noemen. Van der Heijden et al. (2011) schatten het aantal Bulgaren dat in 2008 in N...

Twee jaar nadat Amnesty International een kritisch rapport over de Nederlandse vreemdelingenbewaring publiceerde, heeft de organisatie zich in november 2010 opnieuw bijzonder kritisch daarover uitgelaten. 1 Terecht vraagt zij aandacht voor humanitaire bezwaren tegen de Nederlandse praktijk van vreemdelingendetentie. Zijn er alternatieven? Migranten...

In most EU countries and the United States, immigration detention is defined as an administrative, non-punitive measure to facilitate expulsion. This paper argues that immigration detention in the Netherlands serves three informal functions in addition to its formal function as an instrument of expulsion: (1) deterring illegal residence, (2) contro...

 Has the spatial concentration of illegal residence in urban environments become a relevant determinant of objective and subjective neighborhood safety? Using quantitative data from various sources on four large metropolitan areas in The Netherlands, this explorative study shows that the elevated levels of fear of crime and violence reported by res...

Achtergrond: Uitgeprocedeerde asielmigranten – daaronder zijn zowel asielzoekers van wie de asielaanvraag is afgewezen als voormalige asielvergunninghouders met een tijdelijke verblijfsvergunning die is geëindigd – moeten Nederland in beginsel binnen 28 dagen te verlaten. Wie niet zelfstandig vertrekt, riskeert uitzetting. Uit eerder onderzoek komt...

Samenvatting Diverse EU lidstaten, waaronder Nederland, hebben de afgelopen jaren maatregelen genomen om partnermigratie te beperken. In 2004 verhoogde Nederland de inkomenseis voor „gezinsvorming. van 100% naar 120% van het voltijds minimumloon. Dat normbedrag is hoger dan het inkomen van circa 30% van de werkende beroepsbevolking. Op basis van IN...

In this paper, the issue of changing labour-market opportunities and the position of members of minority groups in advanced service economies is addressed, focusing on the Dutch case. We distinguish between two social hierarchies, one of traditional ‘fordist’ occupations and one of post-fordist occupations. Compared to the native Dutch, all immigra...

In Western countries, irregular immigrants constitute a sizeable segment of the population. By combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, this article describes and explains irregular immigrants' patterns of spatial concentration and incorporation in the Netherlands. So far these spatial patterns have not been described and explained...

In grote steden zijn wijken met concentraties van illegale immigranten. De bewoners voelen zich er relatief onveilig, en worden vaker slachtoffer van criminaliteit. Komt dat door de aanwezigheid van illegalen? De auteurs belichten de relaties tussen illegaal verblijf en veiligheid door statistische analyses en veldwerk in twee stadswijken in Rotter...

Gaandeweg is er in Nederland een omvangrijke groep uitgeprocedeerde asielzoekers gegroeid. Daarvan leven naar schatting 17.500 tot 30.000 mensen in de illegaliteit. Een deel komt in aanraking met de politie. De auteur tekende in de Vreemdelingenbewaring de levensverhalen op van 26 (mannelijke) illegalen met een asielachtergrond die in Nederland ver...

Abstract In this article we offer a quantitative examination of the extent to which migrants from various countries are involved in transnational activities and have transnational identifications. The study is based on a survey of 300 immigrants (from the USA, Japan, Iraq, former-Yugoslavia, Morocco and the Dutch Antilles) living in the Netherlands...

In this article we combine field observation, interviews, cartographic and police data on nationality and illegality to analyse the social and economic mechanisms explaining the rising presence and social relations of irregular immigrants in the Schilderswijk (disreputable inner district) in the Dutch city of The Hague. Secondly, we pay attention t...

Shadow places. Patterns of spatial concentration and incorporation of illegal immigrants in the Netherlands In western countries illegal immigrants constitute a significant segment of the population. By combining quantitative and qualitative research methods this article describes, and explains, illegal immigrants’ patterns of spatial concentration...

Het vraagstuk van asielmigratie staat al jaren hoog op de politiek-maatschappelijke agenda. De mate van betrokkenheid van asielzoekers bij criminaliteit is onderwerp van een beladen discussie die desondanks, of wellicht juist daardoor, een degelijke empirische onderbouwing mist. Dat betreft eerst en vooral een betrouwbaar cijfermatig inzicht in de...

In de tweede AGORA van dit jaar werd in de recensierubriek de studie ‘Wijken voor Illegalen. Over ruimtelijke spreiding, huisvesting en leefbaarheid’ (2004) van Arjen Leerkes e.a. kritisch besproken. AGORA-redacteur Maarten Loopmans meent dat de onderzoekers zich blindelings hebben laten inzetten binnen het heersende discours van repressie en uitwi...

The prevalence of crime among illegal immigrants in the Netherlands appears to have risen. Primary and secondary analyses of police data showed that the involvement in crime among illegal immigrants (aged 12 to 25) reflects the patterns of delinquency among legal migrants of comparable age and country of origin. At present, the (rising) crime rate...

Both the number of crime suspects without legal status and the number of irregular or undocumented immigrants held in detention facilities increased substantially in the Netherlands between 1997 and 2003. In this period, the Dutch state increasingly attempted to exclude irregular immigrants from the formal labour market and public provisions. At th...

Er woedt in de sociale wetenschappen al geruime tijd een debat over de macht van de staat in een tijd van geïntensiveerde mondialisering. Daarin doet zich onder meer de vraag voor in hoeverre lokale overheden aan invloed winnen (Borja & Castells, 1997) en of nationale overheden internationale migratiestromen nog wel kunnen sturen (Andreas & Snyder,...

Voorwoord: In het debat over internationale migratie en integratie keert steeds vaker het begrip 'transnationalisme' terug. Daarmee wordt bedoeld dat migranten georiënteerd zijn en blijven op het land van herkomst of de wijdere diaspora, zowel in economische, culturele als politieke zin. Verondersteld wordt dat deze duurzame oriëntatie op het land...