The Underbelly of Migration Governance: Exploring the Intersection of Transnational Crime and Migration Governance

UNDERGOV investigates the role of transnational criminal groups in migration governance. Although this topic has attracted increasing global attention due to the intersection of migration management and crime, academic research remains limited. Most studies tend to view criminal groups merely as threats to migration governance or as peripheral actors. UNDERGOV advocates for a significant paradigm shift in conventional debate on transnational governance. Rather than merely viewing criminal groups as global challenges for various actors to tackle, we should acknowledge them as pivotal actors influencing these challenges. My decade-long empirical research on migrant smuggling and human trafficking has deepened my understanding of the complex relationships between these criminal actors, migrants, and other crucial participants in migration governance. UNDERGOV builds on and moves beyond this experience, positing that criminal groups not only disrupt but also actively shape migration governance, and may even play a crucial role in the functioning and reproduction of its legal apparatus. In so doing, the project transcends both mainstream perspectives that view crime as a mere challenge to migration governance and critical studies that frame the role of crime in migration governance solely in terms of a state-driven process of “criminalization”. The project aims to revolutionize our understanding of migration governance through empirical research and theory-building in Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. It will compile a unique ethnographic collection to illuminate the operations of transnational crime within migration governance, addressing the current data shortage that hinders theoretical development. Simultaneously, it will develop new theories about the role of crime in migration governance, contributing to social anthropology, migration studies, and filling a significant gap in our understanding of transnational governance.