Irregular immigration in the EU: Some national perspectives on arrival of immigrants

Briefing 13-12-2013

Recent events in the Mediter­ranean, which have led to many migrants dying off the shores of European Union Member States, have placed EU migration policies back on the political agenda. A particular difficulty in dealing with this phenomenon comes from the mixed flows of migrants, made up of both irregular immigrants and asylum seekers. The EU's legal framework for irregular immigration is scattered over a multitude of legal instruments. Those which apply at the arrival of migrants focus on border surveillance, return of irregular immigrants and cooperation on readmission with third countries of origin and transit, as well as on preventing the departure for Europe of irregular immigrants.