Academic literature on the topic 'Migrants dispersal policies'

This article presents personal stories from a participatory biographical arts-based study with a specific category of racialised migrants: individuals seeking asylum, in the North East of England. Responding to the important questions posed by this special issue, the article explores individual experiences of navigating the UK's hostile environment with a focus on the threefold punitive ‘threat’ of dispersal, detention, and destitution (Bloch and Schuster, 2005). Adopting an intersectional lens, the discussion highlights the impact of such policies and their compound effect of creating (un)safe and exclusionary everyday spaces, while also outlining the potential for resistance as illustrated by participants’ actions and their creative (re)actions as part of the study's arts-based approach.

One of the long-term challenges for policy makers in host countries of migrants is the optimal geographical allocation of the migrant population so as to strengthen integration outcomes and serve the crucial goal of social inclusion. The political debate on the appropriate placement policy of newcomers has continued for years after the large-scale inflows of asylum seekers in Greece. This paper focuses on the evaluation of the dispersal policy of asylum seekers in Greece as implemented under the reception and accommodation scheme. Furthermore, it provides decision makers with an alternative dispersal policy framework driven by the integration outcomes of the already established migrant population in the country. The research encompasses Eurostat NUTS 2 annual data for a choice upon availability of the Zaragoza Integration Indicators and the immigrant population indicator for the thirteen Greek regions. The data cover a ten-year period from 2010 to 2019, and they are analysed with the multiple criteria decision-making method PROMETHEE. In addition to desk research, fieldwork has been conducted to illuminate the results of the model. The paper extends the literature on the governance of migration and contributes to the planning of migrant integration policies in their host countries.

This article presents personal stories from a participatory biographical arts-based study with a specific category of racialised migrants: individuals seeking asylum in the North East of England. Responding to the important questions posed by this special issue, the article explores individual experiences of navigating the UK's hostile environment with a focus on the threefold punitive ‘threat’ of dispersal, detention, and destitution ( Bloch and Schuster, 2005 ). Adopting an intersectional lens, the discussion highlights the impact of such policies and their compound effect of creating (un)safe and exclusionary everyday spaces, while also outlining the potential for resistance as illustrated by participants’ actions and their creative (re)actions as part of the study's arts-based approach.

Abstract Background With the aim of decreasing immigration, the British government extended charging for healthcare in England for certain migrants in 2017. There is concern these policies amplify the barriers to healthcare already faced by asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs). Awareness has been shown to be fundamental to access. This article jointly explores (i) health care professionals’ (HCPs) awareness of migrants’ eligibility for healthcare, and (ii) ASRs’ awareness of health services. Methods Mixed methods were used. Quantitative survey data explored HCPs’ awareness of migrants’ eligibility to healthcare after the extension of charging regulations. Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with ASRs were analyzed thematically using Saurman’s domains of awareness as a framework. Results In total 514 HCPs responded to the survey. Significant gaps in HCPs’ awareness of definitions, entitlements and charging regulations were identified. 80% of HCP respondents were not confident defining the immigration categories upon which eligibility for care rests. Only a small minority (6%) reported both awareness and understanding of the charging regulations. In parallel, the 18 ASRs interviewed had poor awareness of their eligibility for free National Health Service care and suitability for particular services. This was compounded by language difficulties, social isolation, frequent asylum dispersal accommodation moves, and poverty. Conclusion This study identifies significant confusion amongst both HCP and ASR concerning eligibility and healthcare access. The consequent negative impact on health is concerning given the contemporary political climate, where eligibility for healthcare depends on immigration status.

People move, finances move, so does the cultures, artefacts, goods and food. Remittances literature expanded significantly in the last two decades to cover more of what we refer to as social remittances. Social remittances refer to often intangible elements, cultural artefacts, habits, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, values transferred by migrants from destination countries to their home countries. Through studies on migrant remittances, we know that even in terms of financial transfers, remittances operate in corridors and in a two-way fashion. One third of remittances are sent to countries which are called “advanced economies”. United Kingdom, Germany, France are among the top remittance receiving countries as well as leading the table of sending countries. In this paper, I explore the ways in which social remittances change the foodscapes of destination countries with particular reference to Döner Kebab in the United Kingdom. Until two decades ago, Döner Kebab was a rare meal you would enjoy when holidaying in Turkey or if you happen to be in that cosy corner of North London. Nevertheless, in 2010s Britain, it became a popular fast food, particularly when it comes to what to eat after a night out. One may find an outlet selling Döner Kebab literally in every city, every town, every neighbourhood, every village in Britain. Multiple forces were in play in the making of Döner Kebab a British national food: 1) practicality of the food itself, 2) growing number of immigrants from Turkey arriving in Britain, 3) labour market disadvantages immigrants face, 4) asylum dispersal policies of the 1990s and 2000s, 5) declining incentives making small shops not viable economically, and 6) increasing number of British tourists visiting Turkey. In this article, a number of hypotheses are proposed for a conceptual model explaining the ways in which foreign food becomes part of the national food/cultural heritage in destination.

At the beginning of 2020, a suddenly appearing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) rapidly spread around the world. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in China occurred during the Spring Festival when a large number of migrants traveled between cities, which greatly increased the infection risk of COVID-19 across the country. Financially supported by the Wuhan government, and based on cellphone signaling data from Unicom (a mobile phone carrier) and Baidu location-based data, this paper analyzed the effects that city dwellers, non-commuters, commuters, and people seeking medical services had on the transmission risk of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic in Wuhan. The paper also evaluated the effects of the city lockdown policy on the spread of the pandemic outside and inside Wuhan. The results show that although the daily business activities in the South China Seafood Wholesale Market and nearby commuters’ travel behaviors concentrated in the Hankou area, a certain proportion of these people were distributed in the Wuchang and Hanyang areas. The areas with relatively high infection risks of COVID-19 were scattered across Wuhan during the early outbreak of the pandemic. The lockdown in Wuhan closed the passageways of external transport at the very beginning, largely decreasing migrant population and effectively preventing the spread of the pandemic to the outside. However, the Wuhan lockdown had little effect on preventing the spread of the pandemic within Wuhan at that time. During this period, a large amount of patients who went to hospitals for medical services were exposed to a high risk of cross-infection without precaution awareness. The pandemic kept dispersing in three towns until the improvement of the capacity of medical treatment, the management of closed communities, the national support to Wuhan, and the implementation of a series of emergency responses at the same time. The findings in this paper reveal the spatiotemporal features of the dispersal of infection risk of COVID-19 and the effects of the prevention and control measures during the early days of the pandemic. The findings were adopted by the Wuhan government to make corresponding policies and could also provide supports to the control of the pandemic in the other regions and countries.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the social and professional adaptation of new Australians from Ukraine in the late 1940 – first half of the 1950s. Research methods: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, methods of bibliographic and archival heuristics, problem-chronological, comparative-historical. Main results. The social adaptation of new Australians from Ukraine in the late 1940 – first half of the 1950s was not easy. They faced the following problems: tropical continental dry climate; dispersal of immigrants throughout Australia; the absence of the old Ukrainian emigrants, and accordingly – organized Ukrainian life; they had to rely only on their own forces; for the older generation, the language barrier was especially tangible; national cuisine of Australians, in which an important place was occupied by lamb dishes. At the same time, adequate wages and low prices for essential goods allowed migrants to improve their financial situation and even build their own housing after poor years in Europe. Professional adaptation was not easy either. It seemed especially difficult for people with higher education. They had to work mainly in construction and in the service sector. After the end of the two-year contract, not everyone was able to find a job in their specialty. It is not surprising that some of the new Australians, primarily those with higher education, after some time moved from Australia to the United States and Canada. Australian government policies aimed at quick assimilation of new Australians from Ukraine failed. Practical significance. It is recommended for use in training courses and generalizing works on the history of Ukraine. Originality. Features of social and professional adaptation of new Australians from Ukraine in the post-war years are characterized. Scientific novelty. The social and professional adaptation of new Australians from Ukraine in the late of 1940 – the first half of the 1950s is characterized for the first time. Type of article: descriptive.

Abstract NorwegianDenne artikkelen presenterer noen bestemte utviklingstrekk når det gjelder kontrollpolitikk, både i Norge og andre land det er vanlig å sammenligne med. Jeg har kalt det jeg finner for «traktpolitikk». Traktpolitikk innebærer å inndra bidrag fra forskjellige og i utgangspunktet uavhengige aktører, organisasjoner og institusjoner fra hele det politisk-administrative feltet. Bidragene blir tatt imot og videreført i den grad de passer inn i det politiske feltet fra før og bidrar til det overordnede målet på feltet. Påstanden er at traktpolitikk og dens rasjonalitet gjennomsyrer den politiske og administrative håndteringen av flere marginale grupper. Formålet med artikkelen er følgelig å redegjøre for hvordan denne politikken fungerer, om enn i skisseform. Artikkelen tar for seg den mer spesifikke kontrollen med irregulære migranter som eksempel, og kan følgelig også leses som en studie av dette feltet.Abstract EnglishThis article presents certain specific developments in control policy that have occurred in Norway and the countries it is commonly compared with. I have coined the term "funnelling policy" to describe what I have found. Funnelling policy involves the deduction of contributions from different and basically independent actors, organizations and institutions from the entire political-administrative field. The contributions are received and continued to the extent that they fit into the political field from before and contribute to the overall goal of the field. The claim is that funnelling policy and its rationality permeate the political and administrative handling of several marginalized groups. The purpose of the article is to explain how this policy functions, albeit in the form of a sketch. The article addresses the more specific control of irregular migrants as an example, and cantherefore also be read as a study of this field.

Until the 1960s, the settlement of Lebanese migrants in Queensland was characteristically regional, with the immigrants dispersed widely throughout the state. Immigrant settlement involves a dynamic and complex interaction between the immigrants and the social, political and economic structures of the receiving society. An analysis of the settlement experience of Lebanese immigrants in Queensland from the 1880s reveals the interplay of several factors, which resulted in a distinct pattern of settlement. Fundamental to this experience was the influence of racially exclusive state and Commonwealth legislation and immigration policies. Additionally, Queensland's particular geography and style of development, in conjunction with the predominance of self-employment and the segregation of Lebanese in petty commercial occupations such as hawking and shopkeeping, significantly determined the immigrants’ geographic settlement pattern. Finally, a less obvious but nonetheless important factor was the determination of the immigrants to settle permanently in Queensland. Whatever the reasons, this dispersed settlement pattern significantly shaped the lives of the immigrants and their descendants.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted families and displaced individuals. For migrant workers, these disruptions and displacements exacerbated the state-imposed constraints on family formation. But how did high-skilled and high-wage immigrants, presumably immune from these challenges, provide care to and receive care from families during the pandemic? Based on 33 in-depth interviews with high-skilled Asian Indian immigrants in the USA during the pandemic, we note disruptions in their care to and from families. These disruptions reveal a persistent pattern of dispersion in immigrant families which leads to what we call “dispersed care.” By “dispersed care” we identify the effects of various state-imposed immigration laws and policies, which force immigrants to divide and allocate care among multiple fragments of their families in home and host countries. Dispersed care affects immigrant workers’ professional output, forcing them to make difficult choices between their career and care commitments. To unsettle the assumed homogeneity of high-skilled “Asian Indians,” we choose participants at diverse intersections of their migration pathways—naturalized US citizens, permanent US residents, and temporary visa holders or nonimmigrants. While naturalized US citizens and permanent residents have better resources to maintain transnational family ties than nonimmigrants, all of them face the intersectional challenges of dispersed care.

Cette thèse étudie les recompositions de l'action médico-sociale auprès des exilés en situation de précarité sous l'effet des logiques de dispersion territoriale dans les politiques politiques migratoires. S'appuyant sur une enquête auprès d'acteurs de l'action sanitaire et sociale sur un département périurbain en Île-de-France, elle analyse les (re)configurations locales des acteurs publics et privés associatifs, dans leurs pratiques de soin et leurs dynamiques partenariales en réponse à l'accueil croissant d'exilés sur le territoire. Cette thèse démontre la prégnance des dynamiques de spécialisation dans l'accès aux soins, marquées par le développement de dispositifs dédiés aux exilés et la construction d'une expertise locale relative à leur santé. Face à l'enjeu de décloisonner l'accès des exilés à l'ensemble du système de santé, elle analyse alors les ambivalences et les limites de ces approches spécialisées et explore les pratiques d'orientation négociées vers les services de santé non dédiés aux populations précaires. Alors que s'affirme la démarche d'« aller-vers » dans les politiques sanitaires et sociales, ce travail analyse enfin le déploiement de l'intervention mobile comme modalité d'extension territoriale des services de santé. Nous montrons comment cette dynamique de « mise en mobilité » représente non seulement une reconfiguration des territoires d'intervention et des conditions de travail des professionnels de l'accueil et du soin, mais bouscule également la construction d'une relation d'aide et les rapports au politique dans lesquels ces derniers s'inscrivent. En explorant ces recompositions sociales et territoriales de l'action médico-sociale, cette thèse s'inscrit ainsi dans les réflexions sur la mise en œuvre et les enjeux de la lutte contre les inégalités sociales de santé
This thesis explores the transformation of medico-social action aimed at exiles facing precarious situations in response to territorial dispersion policies. Leveraging a survey of health and social care workers across a peri-urban territory in the Parisian region impacted by those policies, we unravel the (re )configurations of local care actors, services, and practices prompted by an increasing reception of exiles. Among those reconfigurations, we identify the emergence of specialized services and the development of local expertise tailored to the specific health needs of exiles. While addressing the challenge of enabling exiles' entry into the entire healthcare system, this work scrutinizes the ambivalence of these specialized approaches and investigates the abilities as well as practices to direct individuals towards healthcare services not explicitly designed for populations in precarious situations. Given the rising prominence of the 'outreach' approach in health and social policies, we then explore the deployment of mobile interventions as a strategy to extend health services across the territory. The work not only underscores the resulting shifts in territorial and working conditions but also examines how this process reshapes partnerships and the political engagement of social and medical actors. By navigating the evolving landscape of medico-social action, this thesis actively contributes to the ongoing debate on the implementation and challenges of reducing social and health inequalities

This chapter examines how the state used the housing market to regulate family reunification. The state required candidates for family reunification to have “sufficient housing” but largely failed to act against landlords who charged foreigners more than Germans. The state also reacted to the development of “foreign” neighborhoods on German soil with a national policy declaring certain cities and neighborhoods off-limits to further foreign settlement. This policy was in effect nationally from 1975 to 1977 and in West Berlin from 1975 to 1989. Both policies placed the burden of dispersal and “integration” on migrant families seeking to navigate a hostile housing market. Migrants unable to find state-approved housing often resorted to registering in false addresses or otherwise misrepresenting their living circumstances, placing many in the situation of being “residentially illegal” and thus vulnerable to deportation.

Abstract The policing of borders is a core state function that cannot be delegated without detriment to its legitimate authority, yet many states not only contract out to private security, but also co-opt private citizens as agents of immigration control. Under the notorious ‘Hostile Environment’ policy, the UK government created a network of citizen border agents by obliging health workers, teachers, employers, landlords, and charitable organisations working with migrants, the poor, and the homeless to check immigration status and report so-called ‘illegals’. This creation of a ‘border within’ disperses controls across the territory of the nation state, and makes private citizens complicit in policing migration. Although the UK government formally ended the Hostile Environment policy in 2017, its successor, the ‘Compliant Environment’, continues to co-opt private citizens as collaborators in immigration control. Legal challenges by civil society organisations and others have questioned whether citizens act as agents of the state or as private actors and, if as agents, on whose authority they police, but they have had limited success in resisting the trend. This chapter explores the origins, aims, and implications for state sovereignty of outsourcing state responsibility to police immigration. It explores the legal and ethical implications of co-opting citizens to argue that it makes police of private citizens and creates suspects not only of non-citizens but of those in minority communities. In so doing, it undermines social trust, civil order, and delegitimises the authority of the sovereign state to police its borders.