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"Differential access to border mobility is a central concern of contemporary politics. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the European Union, where external borders have been strengthened to prevent irregular entry and internal borders have been removed to promote free circulation. Governing Irregular Migration explores these dynamics of inclusion and exclusion at one of Europe's southern borders. Drawing on interviews with policymakers and on more than three decades of parliamentary debates, laws, and policy documents, David Moffette analyzes Spain's processes of immigration governance to reveal the complicated series of legal obstacles facing people with precarious immigration status. These migrants encounter long probationary periods during which they may be scrutinized and policed by individuals and organizations at multiple levels of government. Moffette shows that issues of culture, labour, and security intersect to create a regime of migration governance that is at once progressive and repressive, characterized by programs of mass regularization of migrants living in the country without authorization, but restrictive immigration policies and tight border control. A detailed empirical analysis of Spanish immigration policy, this book provides a thought-provoking and insightful contribution to conceptual debates in socio-legal, border, and citizenship studies."--

Catalog of an exhibition organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, held in Williamstown, Mass., June 5-Sept. 5, 2004.