Joao Guia , Maria --- "Policing and prosecution of migration crime: the Daedalus puzzle of European immigration policies: law in books and law in action in a corner of the EU" [2019] ELECD 2989; in Mitsilegas, Valsamis; Hufnagel, Saskia; Moiseienko, Anton (eds), "Research Handbook on Transnational Crime" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 212

Book Title: Research Handbook on Transnational Crime

Editor(s): Mitsilegas, Valsamis; Hufnagel, Saskia; Moiseienko, Anton

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: Policing and prosecution of migration crime: the Daedalus puzzle of European immigration policies: law in books and law in action in a corner of the EU

Author(s): João Guia , Maria

Number of pages: 11

Abstract/Description:

European countries have not harmonised immigration policy in the same way as the financial framework and other areas. In fact, immigrants had been welcomed since the establishment of the Council of Europe, accepting all kinds of work and constituting the labour force necessary for the reconstruction of the post-World-War-II European nations. Later, with the creation of the European Union and Schengen Area, following the framework decisions and directives adopted on the basis of qualified majority, immigration became subject to regulation. Nonetheless, some Member States have not implemented harsh criminal measures towards irregular immigration despite their obligation to transpose EU measures, such as those envisaged in the Returns Directive, into domestic laws. The divergence between harsher European measures and softer domestic attitudes, such as those in Portugal, turns immigration policy into a paradigmatic example of how law in action differs across EU Member States.