Undocumented Migrants: without papers but not without rights

Migrants are considered as undocumented or in an irregular situation when they are not allowed to enter, stay or work following the law of the country . Thirty to forty million people in the world live and work in countries without such permission. Approximately 10.3 million live in the USA and between 7 and 8 million live in the European Union .

Undocumented migration is an extremely emotional subject nowadays and is often used to stir up racial and cultural tensions. Some politicians and journalists play up fears of terrorism regularly linking migrants with criminality and talk about “invasion”. This image is strengthened by the use of dramatic pictures of desperate people willing to risk everything to work abroad. Consequently, the words “illegal migrant” carry a connotation of criminality where the migrant is to blame for doing what human beings have always done: crossing boarders or oceans in search of a better life. Yet “illegal migration” is an expression used on a daily basis and reference to illegal migration is pervasive in the media. For instance, in the USA, despite numerous calls from groups such as the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the words “illegal”, when describing a migrant, is still more than five times more common than the more neutral and accurate “undocumented”. In 309 stories collected over a period of two months, there were 381 uses of the word “illegal” compared to 73 uses of the word “undocumented” when referring to irregular migrants.

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