Detained migrants and access to law

Legal support is not self-evident for detained migrants facing expulsion. Does a low-threshold counter for legal support help?

Joanne van der Leun • April 13, 2016

Deprivation as a punishment for non-cooperative migrants

Two of the highest courts in the Netherlands ruled that the government can legally require irregular migrants to cooperate before granting them social support. This blog discusses the dangerous premise that withdrawing social support is permissible.

Lennart van Laake • December 17, 2015

Refugees: From Problem to Crisis

Recently the media have stopped reporting on the refugee ‘problem’ and started providing daily updates on the developing refugee ‘crisis’. This blog examines the positive and negative aspects of this shift in rhetoric and suggests how to limit its risks.

Lennart van Laake • October 06, 2015

The moral dilemma of medical refugees

It seems that there are only two types of migrants crossing into Europe: those fleeing war and oppression and those seeking work. I want to focus on one group that does not fit either category: those entering Europe illegally to obtain medical treatment.

Lennart van Laake • August 14, 2015

Are irregular migrants victims?

Should we consider irregular migrants as victims of migration laws or as active agents who decide their own fate?

Masja van Meeteren • July 15, 2015 • 2 comments

Not Making it in the Netherlands: Excluding Irregular Immigrants to the Max

In recent weeks, the national government coalition in the Netherlands almost collapsed over the issue of shelter for former asylum seekers. This shelter is now primarily organised at the municipal level.

Joanne van der Leun • May 20, 2015

Is there refuge if you are a not a refugee?

The approach in the Mukarubega judgement raises interesting questions on the interaction between refugee law and human rights.

Lennart van Laake • December 04, 2014

Banning bad words (‘illegal’)

In the early 1990s it was not uncommon to refer to migrants unlawfully present in a country as ‘illegal aliens’. Lately, many international organizations and immigration advocates have been calling for more civilized terms.

Joanne van der Leun and Jelmer Brouwer • July 02, 2014 • 2 comments

A lesson from the child amnesty

Recent upheaval about the child amnesty shows how governmental layers keep pulling in different directions instead of recognising the different roles with respect to migration control.

Joanne van der Leun • May 23, 2014

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