Since 2017, the City Initiative on Migrants with Irregular Status in Europe (C-MISE) project has collaborated with over 70 European cities on practical approaches to addressing the presence of migrants with irregular status. The EU Commission, through its Horizon Europe funding stream, has meanwhile financed seven research projects focused on irregular migration, providing significant opportunities for new learning and insight on this topic.
This briefing is a result of a one-day hybrid workshop held in Brussels in April 2025 by C-MISE and the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), which brought together academic researchers and policymakers at the city level. The workshop aimed to bridge the gap between Horizon Europe-funded research on irregular migration and actionable policies at the city level, including facilitating collaboration between researchers, policymakers and stakeholders in local authorities, as well as equipping local authorities with evidence-based tools, strategies and scalable models of good practice to address the challenges of irregular migration at the city level. In fact, cities and local authorities often need to address some of these challenges to fulfil their own statutory responsibilities, such as addressing homelessness, public health and child protection. We also sought to define key priorities for a city-driven research agenda, aligned with EU policy frameworks.
