ABSTRACT
Current liberal democratic state policies towards irregular migrants is characterized by a reluctance to recognize little more than irregular migrants' right to privacy and procedural justice. Assuming that advocates of irregular migrants' rights aspire to influence state policies to irregular migrants, their human rights rhetoric is taken to suggest that principles of human rights are thought to carry enough normative force to move opponents of a more liberal policy to irregular migrants – that is heads of states and large sections of their electorate – to act on it. This chapter problematizes this notion, with the aim of articulating more clearly and forcefully the claims that proponents of a more liberal policy on irregular migrants make on the state. It suggests that principles of human rights do not fulfil these criteria.
