An Elusive Concept: The Changing Definition of Illegal Immigrant in the Practice of Immigration Control in the United Kingdom

Getting by in Europe's Urban Labour Markets : Senegambian Migrants' Strategies for Survival, Documentation and Mobility

“…6 Given that the economic difficulties that developing countries face are a direct result of the political situation of the country, it is difficult to decide if migration is due to political or economic reasons. In addition, the changing definitions in host countries over time show the relativity of these categories (Couper & Santamaria 1984).…”

Migrant “Illegality” and Deportability in Everyday Life

“…As Malkki argues with respect to "refugees," the analytic validity and usefulness of the term undocumented migrants is that it supplies "a broad legal or descriptive rubric" that includes within it a tremendous heterogeneity (Malkki 1995, p. 496;cf. Brennan 1984, Couper 1984. Undocumented migrations are, indeed, preeminently labor migrations (cf.…”

Enduring Uncertainty

“…Yet many have questioned their development and use (Couper and Santamaria 1984;Kunz 1981;Malkki 1995;Richmond 1988;Shacknove 1985;Zetter 1991). Of particular relevance here is Malkki's (1995) questioning of the deployment of 'the refugee' as a self-limiting field of anthropological knowledge: the refugee as a legal status encompasses a variety of people with different ethnic, social, political backgrounds and different personal histories.…”