Irregular Migration in Europe: Myths and Realities

Considering the present debate on undocumented immigrants in the United States, this study of the phenomenon in Europe is particularly of interest on both sides of the Atlantic. Triandafyllidou, a sociologist at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy in Athens, set the parameters for the contributors, from twelve EU countries, through which to address the scope of the problem, the responses made by the government each country and the actuality of "irregular migration" as opposed to the popular perception. All the authors agree that establishing concrete data on the numbers of immigrants is difficult, although Spain, because it offers welfare benefits to those who register, comes closest. Although ragged "boat people" are most often shown on news programs, the greatest number of people who stay illegally arrive on tourist visas and simply stay. Altogether, this is an excellent overview of the problems and some solutions to undocumented migration. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Anna Triandafyllidou is Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), and Chair of Sociology of Migration and Migration Policy, in the Department of Social Administration, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.