Labor migration is largely governed by informal networks that states cannot regulate

Evidence

Undocumented migrants (also known as irregular or illegal migrants): people who enter a country, usually in search of employment, without the necessary documents and permits. Many labor migration flows consist predominantly of undocumented migrants. In some cases immigration countries tacitly permit such migration since it allows mobilization of labor in response to employer demands without social costs or measures for protection of migrants. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3812 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In my usage, ”illegality” is not only an actual state of legal status but also a condition of political subjectivity that places migrants outside the law. Thus, human tra≈cking as illicit trade in labor migrants becomes a useful and essential component of state-regulated labor migration. The illegality of labor flows is an industry that is sanctioned by the state and exploited in the production of capital. Thus, controlling the illegality that is reflected in the unlawful practices and informal regulations of governments allows the nation-state to manipulate the labor of migrants. For the field of migration studies, this shifts attention from the documentation of immigrants to the status accorded to such documentation by the state (De Genova 2002, 422-23). — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 666 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A migration industry with vested interests thwarts state migration controls; States profit from the illegality they co-produce in migrant labor flows — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 666; Economic crises fail to halt labor migration because employers cannot replace migrant workers (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• States sometimes tolerate undocumented labor to meet employer demands without protection costs #complicates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3812
• The state benefits from illegality by manipulating migrant labor through it #complicates (0.84)
• States profit from the illegality they co-produce in migrant labor flows #complicates (0.82) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 666
• Legal migrants can be rendered illegal to make them disposable labor #complicates (0.78) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 655
• Formalizing the labor market institutionalized coercion into a migration industry #complicates (0.76)
• Deportation functions as social control that discards surplus immigrant labor during crises #complicates (0.74) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 770
• The state takes multiple guises to regulate migration and bodies #complicates (0.73) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 238
• Gulf labor migration trapped Asian workers in rigid contract systems without rights #complicates (0.72)