Migration Studies, OUP
Migration Studies, OUP

The new issue 2(3) of Migration Studies is out. It contains a short symposium on the impacts of irregular status with contributions by Elzbieta Gozdziak, Janina Sohn, Daniela Borodak and Ariene Tichit. Using ethnographic methods, Gozdziak examines how irregular immigration status affects the educational opportunities of children in the US, concluding that ‘the kind of assistance and support Latino students need will not come solely from immigration reform and policy changes, but rather paradigm shifts in our attitudes toward and programs for Latino children and their families as well as policies aimed at alleviating poverty of immigrant families’ (Gozdziak, 2014, pp. 392–414). The nexus immigration status and educational attainments is the focus also of Söhn’s article (2014). Borodak and Tichit explore the impact of status on migration projects and conclude that, while ‘the total duration of migration to a foreign country is the same for regular and irregular migrants”, irregular migrants move less due to constraints of status (Borodak and Tichit, 2014, pp. 415–447).

Closely related to the theme of the symposium, this Migration Studies issue also includes a review essay by Franck Duvell on “Human smuggling, border deaths and the migration apparatus” (Duvell, 2014).

The collection also includes three theoretically driven pieces by Oliver Bakewell on the ‘re-launch’ of migration systems theory (Bakewell, 2014), Roger Waldinger on an agenda for a sociological engagement with ’emigrant politics’ (Waldinger, 2014); and Cheng, Young, Zhang and Owusu on a comparative exploration of internal migration in China and the EU (Cheng, Young, Zhang and Owusu, 2014). An editorial by Alan Gamlen introduces the collection.