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The failure of deterrence and prohibition policies
Many factors weigh into a potential migrant’s decision-making process regarding when, where, and why they want to migrate. Some of these factors are often described as ‘push and pull’ factors, the overly broad but classic examples for which are poverty or war on the one side, and opportunity and peace on the other. Yet discussion about these factors is on the whole extremely shallow, and is often no more than scaremongering about ‘benefit scroungers’ and migrants ‘taking our jobs’.
While the economic incentives to migrate are diverse and, for many, very strong, they are constantly evaluated and scrutinised by potential migrants. It is true that most migrants, including refugees, try to go where there are jobs, where they can start integrating and creating a future for their children. It is also true that prime destination countries have jobs available for migrants in the official or underground labour markets. Migrants respond to this demand for labour, and under normal circumstances when demand declines in a particular area, so does migration to it.
