ABSTRACT
The domestication of immigration policy, discussed in the previous chapter, is achieved through the application of criminal law – a field of law that is by nature domestic and constructed for members of the polity – to non-citizens. This chapter argues that all crimmigration, and particularly crimmigration under international protection, is accordingly characterized by a ‘paradox of exclusion’, a contradictory attempt to exclude undesirable migrants via a field of law designed primarily for citizens. Consequently, the principles of criminal law often cause migrants to receive certain protections associated with membership. Moreover, crimmigration creates internal borders that provide irregular migrants with various opportunities for partial and informal inclusion. In so doing, it constructs various degrees of membership in the political community, thus contributing to civic stratification.
