Criminalisation of Illegal Entry Around the World (Paper)
- Suhani Agarwal, NALSAR Hyderabad
- December 25, 2020
Content :
The paper discusses the matter of criminalisation of illegal entry in the world. It first debates about the terminology and the usage of the word “illegal” to refer to immigrants. Such language has a profound impact on the way the general populace perceives the existence of these people. Therefore, instead of “illegal” people should use more appropriate words like “irregular” or “undocumented”. Moreover, declaring an act as illegal and criminalising it has multiple legal consequences. The punishments imposed range from fines, imprisonment to detention and deportation even when such crimes could be classified as what is known as a victimless crime.
In recent times, Migration has increased by manifold, and in 124 countries of the 162 that were surveyed, illegal entry was criminalised. This often leads to the detention of these migrants. They are treated like any other criminal even when their act is not caused by an intent to harm others. The conditions of these detention centres are especially bad, denying these migrants their basic human rights. Multiple international treaties and covenants have guaranteed these rights. Even in India, multiple laws impose heavy penalties for such illegal entry, and the courts do not seem very sympathetic towards these migrants.
Further, the inherent belief that migrants are parasites and will always harm the country they enter has been countered by the book of Nobel prize winner Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee. These conditions need to be remedied, and such harsh punishments need to be amended. The detention centres must not be seen as a default setting but only as a last resort and the authorities must meet the international standards while maintaining these detention centres. The criminalisation of illegal entry seems to be more of a political stunt to paint an adverse picture of these asylum seekers and migrants among the people of the country.
