IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joimai/v26y2025i1d10.1007_s12134-025-01242-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Insecurity of Irregular Migrants: Criminal Acts Against Afghans in the Turkish–Iranian Borderland

Author

Listed:
  • Alper Ekmekcioğlu

    (Gendarmerie General Command)

  • Ayşe Dere

    (Gaziantep University)

Abstract

This study aims to propose an alternative path to address the acute humanitarian issues of irregular migrants in the borderlands from the perspective of public policy analysis. The study’s research question is “How to protect irregular migrants against criminal threats in borderlands?” Through semi-structured interviews with Afghan irregular migrants in migration routes in 2019–2020, this study examined unsafe experiences and insecurities in the borderland from Iran to Türkiye. This article initially examined the types of abuse experienced by migrants with spatial limitations. Based on the interviews, there are five criminal groups encountered in the borderland: migrant smugglers, other smugglers, terrorists, bandits, and groups in Iranian military uniforms. Multiple streams theory has been utilized as a theoretical framework to evaluate the vulnerabilities of irregular migrants in motion and determine the potential solution. A humanitarian reform in border policies, institutions, and structures is anticipated to achieve the transition successfully to reduce the criminal threats that irregular migrants encounter. This study offers a crime prevention policy to follow cross-border law enforcement in borderlands.

Suggested Citation

  • Alper Ekmekcioğlu & Ayşe Dere, 2025. "The Insecurity of Irregular Migrants: Criminal Acts Against Afghans in the Turkish–Iranian Borderland," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 445-465, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:26:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-025-01242-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s12134-025-01242-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-025-01242-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12134-025-01242-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ryan Essex & Erika Kalocsányiová & Nataliya Rumyantseva & Jill Jameson, 2022. "Trust Amongst Refugees in Resettlement Settings: a Systematic Scoping Review and Thematic Analysis of the Literature," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 543-568, June.
    2. Tim Legrand & Christian Leuprecht, 2021. "Securing cross-border collaboration: transgovernmental enforcement networks, organized crime and illicit international political economy [A tale of two borders: The US-Canada and US-Mexico lines af," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(4), pages 565-586.
    3. Alexandria Innes, 2023. "Migration, Vulnerability, and Experiences of Insecurity: Conceptualising Insecure Migration Status," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-17, September.
    4. Suzan Ilcan, 2021. "The Border Harms of Human Displacement: Harsh Landscapes and Human Rights Violations," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Erica Briozzo & Maria Vargas-Moniz & José Ornelas, 2024. "Critical Insights on Social Connections in the Context of Resettlement for Refugees and Asylum Seekers," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1917-1941, December.
    2. Alexandria Innes & Sophie Carlisle & Hannah Manzur & Elizabeth Cook & Jessica Corsi & Natalia V Lewis, 2024. "Prevalence of physical violence against people in insecure migration status: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(3), pages 1-29, March.
    3. Christian Leuprecht & Caitlyn Jenkins & Rhianna Hamilton, 2022. "Virtual money laundering: policy implications of the proliferation in the illicit use of cryptocurrency," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(4), pages 1036-1054, September.
    4. Lucy Fiske & Linda Briskman, 2021. "The Impossibility of Home: Displacement and Border Practices in Times of Crisis," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-7, October.
    5. Chiara Maria Zisler & Eric Bettinger & Uschi Backes-Gellner, 2024. "Empowering refugees: The role of comprehensive training programs in labor market integration," Economics of Education Working Paper Series 0218, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    6. Gabriela Mesquita Borges, 2024. "Journey of Violence: Refugee Women’s Experiences Across Three Stages and Places," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 673-693, June.
    7. Stefanie S. Baumgartner & Fabio Galeotti & Thierry Madiès & Marie Claire Villeval, 2025. "Trust as a social norm? A lab-in-the-field experiment with refugees in Switzerland," Working Papers 2508, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    8. Baumgartner, Stefanie S. & Galeotti, Fabio & Madies, Thierry & Villeval, Marie Claire, 2025. "Trust as a Social Norm? A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment with Refugees in Switzerland," IZA Discussion Papers 17822, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Vladimir Kozlov & Ekaterina Sokolova & Olga Veselovskaya & Daria Saitova, 2024. "Social capital development after migration: the role of employment, children and gender factors for Russian post-2022 migrants," Working Papers 405, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joimai:v:26:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s12134-025-01242-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.