10 October

(In)Visibility Paradox: Experiences of Irregular Migrants in Barcelona

14:00 – 15:00 (BST)

Speaker: Gülce Safak Özdemir, Pompeu Fabra University

In this inaugural CMISE Research Exchange Webinar, Gülce Safak Özdemir will share findings from her doctoral research that looked at the experiences of irregular migrants in 13 European cities. This webinar will focus on the case of Barcelona, where Gülce explores the (in)visibility paradox, which encompasses three dimensions: institutional (in)visibility, (in)visibility as marginalization, and (in)visibility as strategy. Institutional (in)visibility involves the simultaneous co-existence of institutional invisibility at the national level and institutional visibility at the local level. (In)visibility as marginalization stems from the duality of visibility and invisibility among irregular migrants with intersectional identities like race, gender, or class despite their shared legal status. (In)visibility as a strategy encompasses various performative actions, including street protests to insert claims into the public sphere and camouflage to avoid racial profiling. Institutional (in)visibility is connected to the legal status and rights of irregular migrants, (in)visibility as marginalization is related to their race, gender, or class, while(in)visibility as strategy is a performed action as a response to institutional (in)visibility and/or (in)visibility as marginalization.

Registration link

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24 October

Visa RoC and C-MISE Joint Webinar

14:00 – 16:00 (BST)

Presentation of findings from VISA RoC Project: Safe reporting in Barcelona, Utrecht, Gent and Milan

This joint Visa RoC and C-MISE webinar will be an opportunity to share and discuss the findings of the Safe Reporting project with the broader C-MISE network. The webinar will focus on the experiences of four European Cities: Barcelona, Utrecht, Gent and Milan.

Please join us for this exciting exchange!

Registration link

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21 November

(Un)equal services, (un)equal opportunities. Migrants’ social rights in Berlin, Stockholm, London, and New York City.

14:00 – 15:00 (GMT)

Speakers: Karolina Łukasiewicz, Ewa Cichocka, Kamil Matuszczyk, Centre For Migration Research, University of Warsaw; Silver School of Social Work, New York University

Compared to a central level, governing migration in cities is known for better efficiency and participation, producing policies fitting local needs and developing social innovations. However, in the context of central-level curbing migrants’ social rights, local policies also suffer. In this webinar, we will unfold this process and answer how different cities respond to the needs of marginalised migrants through their local welfare systems and analyse factors shaping different types of responses impacting migrants’ social rights. We will use four cases of cities representing different welfare regimes and varying levels of efficiency in poverty reduction: Stockholm, Berlin, London, and New York City. Our analysis is based on comparative qualitative research, including 95 interviews with marginalised migrants and immigrant service providers. We argue that the tendency to shift the responsibility for protecting migrants’ social rights from the national to the local level brings local authorities more autonomy and control and stimulates social innovations. However, it also generates overlooked risks, such as accelerated privatisation of social services that, combined with underfunding, negatively impact cities’ capabilities to respond to the needs of marginalised migrants. In particular, cities representing liberal welfare regimes offer privatised, fragmented and difficult-to-navigate services of unequal quality and consequently perpetuate (un)equal opportunities for marginalised migrants. More generous and less privatised regimes, however, make their services less accessible and inclusive for migrants, dividing people into varying categories of deserving and undeserving support. Our research indicates that negative outcomes of policy decentralisation can be mitigated by more considerable social expenditure, an absorbent labour market and creating more inclusive migrant policies.

Registration link

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05 December

Everyday Bordering Processes Affecting Undocumented Moroccans in the Borderlands of Ceuta and Melilla, Spain

14:00 – 15:00 (GMT)

Speaker: Nina Sahraoui, Junior Professor, University Paris-Saclay

In this webinar, Nina explores the entanglements of migration control with migrants’ access to social services, notably healthcare and education. The presentation examines how exclusionary policies specific to the Spanish borderlands of Ceuta and Melilla impede undocumented migrants from accessing social services through concrete legal, economic and social barriers, leading them to become ‘externalised within’. The cases of children’s admission to school and pregnant women’s access to healthcare are highly symbolic issues, as these groups tend to be portrayed as vulnerable and benefit from some forms of inclusion in mainland Spain and many other European settings. In the context of Ceuta and Melilla, the marginalisation of undocumented Moroccans is intensified by the divisive effects of border fortification, seen in the weaponising of basic social services. The presentation is based on qualitative fieldwork conducted with undocumented Moroccan women, NGO members, social workers, healthcare professionals and managers in 2016 and 2017.

Registration link

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