Securitization through criminalization in Italy and France

Our Visiting Fellow Dr Matilde Rosina has published a new chapter, "Securitization Through Criminalization in Italy and France," in the new volume Varieties of Securitization: Migration Governance along the Central Mediterranean Route (Springer, 2026).

Her new research examines how treating irregular migration as a criminal offence in Italy and France creates a feedback loop - heightening public insecurity while pushing migrants into more precarious, underground networks. The result: a cycle that fuels both irregularity and demands for tougher policies.

Abstract

"Today, irregular migration is treated as a criminal offence in most European countries. No longer regarded merely as an administrative issue, unauthorised entry (and stay) is sanctioned by fines, imprisonment and expulsion. Yet, what impact does this approach—the so-called “criminalisation of migration”—have on migrants and receiving societies? Does it deliver the security it promises? And how does it shape security perceptions and dynamics? This chapter examines the cases of Italy and France, two of the countries with the most severe sanctions in Europe, and argues that criminalisation creates a feedback loop, exacerbating insecurity and irregularity."