Intertwining Criminal Justice and Immigration Control in the EU

by Niovi Vavoula (Editor), Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi (Editor), Valsamis Mitsilegas (Editor)

Overview

This book offers a contemporary understanding of the state of the art of "crimmigration" with a focus on the European Union and challenges this paradigm of intersecting criminal justice and immigration control.

The contributions to this book explore the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of EU and national policies intertwining criminal and migration law, as well as their practical use (and abuse). They analyse migration control through criminal law from multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, incorporating insights from law, philosophy, and criminology. The book revisits fundamental questions on the suitability of criminal law to regulate and govern migration and provides insights as to whether and how the law should be amended to limit the negative consequences of the criminalisation of migration. The authors critique the key legal challenges crimmigration poses in terms of legality, fundamental rights, and rule of law adherence. Finally, this volume outlines, through concrete examples, how criminalisation of migration translates into the emergence of hostile environments for migrants and those who assist them.

This book will be of interest to criminologists, sociologists, legal scholars, and all those engaged in studies on migration and the European Union.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032457307
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/09/2025
Series:	Routledge Studies in Criminal Justice, Borders and Citizenship
Pages:	286
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Niovi Vavoula is Associate Professor and Chair in Cyber Policy at the University of Luxembourg. Her research interests involve EU immigration law, particularly the intersection of migration law and technology and criminalisation of migration, as well as IT law, with an emphasis on the regulation of cyberspace, AI, and data protection.

Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi is Professor and Jean Monnet Chair in European Migration Law and Governance at the Law Faculty of Maastricht University.

Valsamis Mitsilegas is a Professor of European and Global Law and Dean of the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Liverpool. He is the author of 11 books and over 150 articles and chapters in the fields of European and transnational criminal law, migration law, security, human rights and the rule of law.

Table of Contents

1. Intertwining Criminal Justice and Immigration Control in the EU: Theoretical, Interdisciplinary, and Practical Perspectives 
Niovi Vavoula and Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi

2. The EU’s Facilitators’ Package – In the Twilight of Fighting Organised Crime and the (Over)Criminalisation of Solidarity: A Comparative Evaluation 
Johannes Keiler

3. Building Limits to the Over-Criminalisation of Facilitating Irregular Migration: The Kinsa case 
Francesca Cancellaro and Stefano Zirulia

4. Who Is the "Vulnerable" Victim? Trafficked and Smuggled Persons as Victims of Crime Under EU Law
Maja Grundler 

5. Crimmigration as Hate Speech 
Alessandro Spena 

6. Migrants’ Agency in Smuggling Routes: Criminalising Practices and Socio-Legal Implications in the EU 
Flavia Patanè

7. Crimmigration through Administrative Surveillance of Civil Society at the EU’s External Borders, 
Niovi Vavoula and Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi

8. Punitive Immigration Control for Difficult, Troublesome, or "Low Recognition" Asylum Seekers: On Waterbed Theory and Globalised Vagrancy Law
Galina Cornelisse

9. From Prevention to Repression: Penal Populism and the Changing Paradigm of Criminal Law to Counter Irregular Migration and Humanitarian Assistance
Marta Minetti

10. Afterword: The Criminalisation of Migration as Preventive (In)Justice
Valsamis Mitsilegas

 

Editorial Reviews

This outstanding edited volume, gathering contributions from top specialists, brings EU migration law and EU criminal law in conversation with each other, delivering a thorough and topical exploration of the (ab)uses of criminal justice mechanisms for migration enforcement purposes, combining legal-doctrinal, theoretical, and socio-legal insights. It makes a critical contribution to ongoing debates, pushing the limits of “crimmigration” research in key ways that will remain influential for years to come.

Violeta Moreno-Lax, Professor, ICREA-Universitat de Barcelona & Queen Mary University of London

This insightful and thought-provoking edited volume critically examines the intersection of criminal justice and immigration control in the EU. Offering a compelling analysis of crimmigration, it highlights its profound legal, ethical, and human rights implications. A must-read for scholars, policymakers, and anyone concerned with justice, migration, and fundamental rights.

Anne Weyembergh, Professor and Vice-Rector of Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) for External Relations and Development Cooperation

 

 

In many parts of the world, not least in the European Union, criminal law is increasingly used as an additional tool to regulate and govern migration. The contributors to this volume explore the many facets of this policy development and offer a cogently critical account from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Bruno De Witte, Professor of European Law, Maastricht University 

From the Publisher