Irregular immigrants can be detained and deported, or socially excluded even if remaining on the territory. On the other hand, they can also be regularized -sooner or later-, obtaining in this way a legal status. Regularization can be achieved through three main avenues: victimization (tears), liberal protection (distress), or deservingness, usually related to employment (sweat) (see Lakhani 2013). On these bases, programs and mechanisms of regularization have been adopted in many democratic countries, both in Western Europe and in the US. Employers are often involved. This raises a relevant question: employers usually exploit irregular immigrant workers, and they should have a stake in keeping them in an irregular status. So why do they decide to regularize immigrant workers at some point? And why are the employers of domestic and care workers more willing to do so than conventional capitalist employers? The chapter will discuss these questions, with reference to Italy.
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Front Matter
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Part I: Approaches and perspectives on irregular migration
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Part II: Aspirations and facilitation of irregular migration
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Part III: Everyday life and (im)mobility
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Part IV: Informal and irregular labour and exploitability
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Part V: Geopolitics and micropolitics of control
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Part VI: Solidarity, advocacy and contestation
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Back Matter
