The state benefits from illegality by manipulating migrant labor through it

Evidence

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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Undocumented presence in the United States is a civil, not criminal, offense — Andrew L. Whitehead, American Idolatry, 640; States choose official labels for mass migrants that encode their intended outcome — Manuel Borutta and Jan C. Jansen, Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar…, 54; The kafeel system enables systematic labor fraud against Gulf migrants. (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• States profit from the illegality they co-produce in migrant labor flows #corroborates (0.97) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 666