Policies of Czech State Agencies for Fighting against Illegal Migration Mathilde Darley CEFRES Prague, IEP Paris Nelegální pracovní aktivity migrantů v Česku a střední Evropě Přírodovědecká fakulta UK, Praha,

2 State definition of illegal migration  Illegal border-crossing (illegal entry / illegal exit through the state borders)  Inland illegal migration (violation of the rules of residence specified by the Act on the Residence of Aliens 326/1999 and its amendments)

3 Main instruments for fighting against illegal migration  Legislation and official strategy papers  Instruments aimed at increasing the scope of control  Return migration policy  Regularization of illegal migration

4 Legislation and official strategy papers  Asylum Act 325/1999  Alien Act 326/1999  Law on the protection of state borders 216/2002  Principles of the government policy in the field of foreigners’ migration (2003)  Action Plan for fighting against illegal migration (2004)

5 Increasing the scope of control  Extension of controls from borders to inland territory  Program of active selection of qualified foreign workers (2003)  Visa policy  Agreements with origin and transit countries  Increased border controls (PHARE funding, investment in control technologies, publicity etc.) Territorial scope of control  Control of residence status by the border police in a distance of 25 km from the border  Control of illegal migration at work sites and accommodation facilities  Control “at the source”:

6 Increasing the scope of control Number of agents involved in control  Involvement of foreign actors (cooperation with transit and origin countries, EU organs, DILTI, common border patrols, etc.)  Increased number of state organs involved in control (creation of an inter-ministry organ in 2000, increased cooperation between alien police, customs office and labour office for controlling illegal work)  Increased participation of private actors (Alien Act: Responsability of carriers transporting illegal migrants, increased number of illegal work controls after denunciations of Czech citizens)  Increased police competencies (cf. Alien Act, Reform of the Alien and Border Police from January 2002)

7 Return migration policy  By enforcement: Detention and expulsion of illegal migrants (increased share of expelled illegal migrants in 2005)  Voluntary return – in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration. Financial incentives for illegal migrants voluntarily going back home

8 Regularizing illegal migration  No amnesty policy in the Czech Republic  Change of status (from illegal to legal) relatively difficult BUT  Focus on measures encouraging legal work migration that is profitable to the Czech Republic: Program of active selection of qualified foreign workers, facilitated process for obtaining a work permit (Action Plan 2004), etc.  Widespread use of toleration status until September 2006 (now subsidiary protection): Quasi-legal status  Neglecting cases of illegal or quasi-legal migration and / or work (cf. clients’ system, easy access to trade licenses, prostitution of illegal migrant women etc.)

9 Gaps of migration control policies  Gaps between the visible migration control strategies and their actual impacts on migration  lack of personal in the police  simplification of border controls after the entry into the EU  very low number of migrants apprehended for illegal work compared to the total number of detained illegal migrants,  combating illegal residence / illegal work remains a secondary activity of the police border and regional departments  no information on the actual scope of illegal migration and illegal work in the Czech Republic  Problems of cooperation between all State agencies

10 Unintended consequences of migration control policies  Circumventing strategies of traffickers and illegal migrants  Increased role of traffickers in the migration process  Increased use of falsified documents  Increased use of asylum by detected illegal migrants as a way to regularize their situation  Increased use of asylum policy as an instrument of migration control  Restrictive policies: incentive for settling down  Economic, political and social costs of control

11 Conclusive hypotheses  EU often invoked to justify the reforms and the adoption of new instruments for controlling migration in the Czech Republic – A means to circumvent domestic constraints?  Illegal migration made to a state priority after ir had sharply decreased ->interactions between problem arising process and domestic migration policies?  Increasing the visibility of control -> Shift in the perception of illegal migrants from their representation as flexible labour force to their stigmatization as threatening the society’s stability  Possible increase of the social costs related to migration control by possibly encouraging xenophobic reactions towards ‘visible’ foreigners who are believed to be unwanted