UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Markets, citizenship and rights: state regulation of labour migration in Malaysia and Spain Garcés-Mascareñas, B. Publication date 2010 Document Version Final published version Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Garcés-Mascareñas, B. (2010). Markets, citizenship and rights: state regulation of labour migration in Malaysia and Spain. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:26 Sep 2021 MARKETS, CITIZENSHIP AND RIGHTS STATE REGULATION OF LABOUR MIGRATION IN MALAYSIA AND SPAIN ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op dinsdag 11 mei 2010, te 10:00 uur door Blanca Garcés-Mascareñas geboren te Barcelona, Spanje Promotiecommissie Promotors: Prof. dr. M.J.A. Penninx Prof. dr. C.A. Groenendijk Co-promotor: Dr. J.M.J. Doomernik Overige Leden: Prof. dr. J.M.M. van Amersfoort Prof. dr. J. Arango Prof. dr. L.A.C.J. Lucassen Prof. dr. H.W. van Schendel Dr. D. Wong Faculteit der Maatschappij en Gedragswetenschappen 'C’est l’Etat qui se pense lui-même en pensant l’immigration , qui se pense selon la «pensée d’Etat»' (Sayad , 1994: 164) INDEX ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.....................................................................................5 PREFACE ................................................................................................................8 1. REGULATING LABOUR MIGRATION .........................................................11 1.1. THE STATE ................................................................................................11 1.2. MARKETS .................................................................................................13 1.3. CITIZENSHIP ............................................................................................16 1.4. RIGHTS......................................................................................................19 1.5. MIGRATION POLICIES ...........................................................................23 1.6. LAW AND ILLEGAL MIGRATION .........................................................24 2. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .............................................27 2.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ........................................................................27 2.2. CASE SELECTION ...................................................................................28 2.3. ELEMENTS OF ANALYSIS .....................................................................31 2.4. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH.........................................................33 2.5. FIELDWORK IN TWO SITES..................................................................36 3. MALAYSIA.......................................................................................................40 3.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................40 3.2. EXPORTING GOODS, IMPORTING LABOUR......................................42 3.3. TOWARDS A GUESTWORKER POLICY ...............................................48 3.4. LETTING THEM IN... ...............................................................................54 3.5. ... BUT ONLY AS FOREIGNERS .............................................................63 3.6. TURNING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS INTO GUESTWORKERS...............73 3.7. DETAINING AND DEPORTING ‘ILLEGALS’ .......................................81 3.8. FINAL REMARKS ....................................................................................89 4. SPAIN ................................................................................................................92 4.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................92 4.2. FROM EMIGRATION TO IMMIGRATION.............................................94 4.3. FROM EMIGRATION CONTROL TO IMMIGRATION POLICIES ....101 4.4. RESTRICTING ENTRY ..........................................................................108 4.5. BETWEEN GUESTWORKERS AND CITIZENS..................................120 4.6. REGULARISATION: AN ENTRY POLICY? .........................................127 4.7. DEPORTATION FROM WITHIN AND FROM WITHOUT ..................146 4.8. FINAL REMARKS ..................................................................................158 5. COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ..................................................................162 5.1. TOWARDS CLOSURE............................................................................162 5.2. THE MARKET RESPONSE....................................................................165 5.3. RIGHTS’ CONSTRAINTS ......................................................................169 5.4. REGAINING CONTROL ........................................................................171 5.5. FINAL EXCLUSION ...............................................................................174 6. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................178 6.1. STATE RESPONSE TO LABOUR DEMANDS .....................................178 6.2. MARKETS, CITIZENSHIP AND RIGHTS ............................................180 6.3. THE ILLUSION OF MIGRATION ‘MANAGEMENT’ .........................185 6.4. THE STATE’S PRODUCTION OF ILLEGALITY .................................187 6.5. MEANINGS OF ILLEGALITY...............................................................190 6.6. TOWARDS A THEORY OF BORDERS AND CONFINES ...................192 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................195 ANNEX 1: Maps .................................................................................................212 ANNEX 2: Abbreviations....................................................................................214 ANNEX 3: Migration policies in Malaysia and Spain ........................................215 ANNEX 4: List of interviews ..............................................................................220 ANNEX 5: Graphic .............................................................................................223 SUMMARY.........................................................................................................224 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS People say that writing a book is a long journey, a journey that in many cases begins long before it is dreamed. They also say that, like other journeys, a book never happens alone. While the responsibility for what is said is not shared, the path that leads to its being said is shared. Without prior research, without sources, without uncomfortable questions and without people with whom to share the process of research (and the life that always goes with it), the result would never be the same. Better said, it would be much poorer. In the case of this book, both things are true. Hence, I must begin by naming places and people. Looking back, I’d say that it all began with my mother’s thesis, which was also about migration though, in her case, it was about Catalan emigration to Puerto Rico in the nineteenth century. Her father, my grandfather, was one of these emigrants although he went to Puerto Rico half a century later, which is to say in the period after the Civil War, in the early years of the Franco dictatorship. Like so many other emigrants, my grandfather went alone, worked, sent letters and money, and never returned. Years later, my mother retraced his footsteps with her study. My sister and I followed her from Barcelona, hearing all her stories and, on her return, helping her to organise all the information she had gathered about emigrants, origins and destinations. It is thus no accident that I studied History. In these student years I confirmed my interest in Latin America and deepened my knowledge of this part of the world. I also discovered two realms that were new to me: anthropology and Africa. The former was discovered with Sandra, Jaume, Joan M., Ana and Marc M. The latter with Jordi T, Joan G., Carme, Albert and Jordi B. With them I learned and took pleasure in learning and, I am happy to say, I am still doing so. Without them and everything we shared, I would never have reached this point. The difficulty of choosing from among these worlds (those experienced at home and those subsequently discovered at university) took me to Brazil, which I thought was the perfect place for me: it was halfway between America and Africa and it had a significant anthropological