Karen Schönwälder , Dita Vogel * , Giuseppe Sciortino MIGRATION AND ILLEGALITY IN GERMANY

*Dita Vogel collaborated as co-author on chapters 2 and 3 and also provided individual contributions to and comments on the entire text. The AKI Research Review on " Migration and Illegality in Germany " records and evaluates the current status of knowledge on this topic. The general aim of the AKI research reviews is to organize and evaluate the information available on a selected topic, to differentiate between adequately substantiated insights, hypotheses and controversial views, to highlight information gaps and requirements and hence provide bases for the further development of research on the topic and for political action. This report focuses on the situation with regard to illegal migration in Germany, i.e. the general conditions and the consequences of illegal migration for German society and for the migrants living in Germany without the necessary authorization or toleration. The report also includes central developments on the international research scene. The phenomenon of " illegal migration " is a topic of public debate and it is often assumed that it involves serious problems that require political action. However, there is insufficient clarity with regard to the precise nature and scope of these problems and in terms of potentially successful and politically and morally acceptable intervention strategies. Policy currently operates on the basis of significant uncertainty. Neither politics nor research have hitherto made sufficient efforts to clarify important issues in this area. Very few systematic scientific studies have been carried out on illegal migration and the backgrounds and situations of illegal migrants living in the Federal Republic of Germany. In this context of an unsatisfactory general research situation, serious gaps exist specifically in the legal and political responses to illegal migration and regarding the reactions of civil society. Analyses of labour market structures (demand, segmentation etc.) are at best preliminary. A few qualitative studies provide partial information on the living situations of illegal migrants, in particular. For example, more information is available about migrant workers from Poland, in particular, than refugees and unauthorized family reunification and illegal migration from China and Africa. It is not fundamentally impossible to carry out research on illegal migration – the report discusses possible methodological approaches and provides examples from international research, recommending that lessons be learned from such examples and from projects carried out on other topics (e.g. homelessness and prostitution). ii The scale of illegal migration is unknown There is no reliable information available on the …