Sanctioning the Facilitation of Irregular Migration: The Kinsa Light at the End of the Overcriminalisation Tunnel

Abstract

The employment of criminal sanctions in EU migration and asylum law has been a long-standing interest of scholars.[1] It is usually studied as an example of ‘crimmigration’, a pattern referring to the convergence of crime control and immigration policies by means of using criminal law in the field of immigration to control mobility.[2] In particular, the Facilitators Package,[3] consisting of the EU Facilitation Directive establishing minimum rules for the definition of the facilitation offences and the Framework Decision on the strengthening of the penal legal framework, has been the subject of intense academic and civil society debate.[4] Key criticism contends that it has introduced an ambiguous 226scope leading to overcriminalisation and a breach of fundamental rights and harming civil society.[5] ...