ABSTRACT
Irregular migration has been fought with growing determination in every developed country in recent decades but it has not been eradicated (for Europe: Düvell 2006; Triandafyllidou 2010; for the US: Hagan et al. 2011). To explain this failure, the literature on the issue emphasises the importance of labour market needs of various vested interests (tourism industry, international trade, cultural exchanges), the embedded liberalism of democratic countries, the huge costs of detection, detention and deportation of irregular migrants and the forms of institutional production of irregular status (for instance, through restrictions on family reunifications) (Ambrosini 2013).
