Those interviewed believe that the restrictive measures in place — such as the lengthening of detention times — not only fail to address the situation of irregularity, but actually increase it, while requiring a significant amount of resources. They point out that, in order to avoid detention, there are alternative measures that are underused, such as the withdrawal of passports. As for deportation, they believe that it should be an exceptional measure and also warn of the danger of it being used as a punitive tool for non-normative behaviour, without enough legal guarantees for the people affected. They point out that the return policy follows a punitive logic that increases the precariousness, insecurity and victimization of people in an irregular situation.
Professor Jubany notes that “the MORE project stems from the need to critically examine logics that legitimize the focus on return and readmission policies as the main tool in migration governance and the consequences that this entails”. “This approach has progressively eroded rights guarantees, restricting regularization channels and reinforcing increasingly punitive and restrictive control mechanisms, without providing structural solutions for mobility management or effectively reducing irregularity”, concludes the researcher.
