Metropolitics

The Impact of Tort Reform Liability Shields During the Covid‑19 Pandemic: Hyper-Preemption in the States

Davia C. Downey & William M. Myers — 2024-10-01T05:00:00Z

The Covid‑19 pandemic exposed how federal and state preemption hamstrings local policymaking. Using the case of tort reform liability shields during the pandemic, Davia C. Downey and William M. Myers show how this is often a matter of politics divorced from reality.
This essay considers the impact of state–local preemption during the coronavirus pandemic (Pearson and Conway 2021). Preemption is when a higher level of government displaces the lawmaking capabilities of another when they come

- Essays / Covid-19, coronavirus, law, state, United States, pandemic, tort, preemption

Arrests of People Smugglers in Niger: A Criminalization of Mutual-Aid Practices in Migration Situations

Alizée Dauchy & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-07-08T05:00:00Z

From the point of view of the Northern states, international migration from the South now has its designated leaders, the networks of "smugglers", which should be dismantled. Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in Niger, the author shows the lability of this role and the perverse effects of a blind repression of mutual aid.
Long ignored by European migration policies, Niger has emerged in official discourse as a transit country for West African populations heading for Europe since 2015

- From the Field / Niger, migrants, migration, criminalization of migration, borders, law, migration crisis, Global South, Africa

Lawyers and Borders: Using Legal Recourse to Oppose State Discretion?

Annalisa Lendaro & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-05-06T05:00:00Z

In the autumn of 2020, the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France, prohibited associations not mandated by the state from distributing food aid to migrants on the street. While opponents of this decision have taken their case to the administrative courts, Annalisa Lendaro shows the central role of lawyers in challenging migration policies.
In a context of reinforced controls at the French–Italian border for the last 10 years, a small group of lawyers has specialized

- From the Field / migrants, law, Italy, borders, migration, migration crisis, criminalization of migration

The Professionalization of Migrant Assistance in Tunisia

Camille Cassarini & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-04-15T05:00:00Z

In Tunisia, the management of sub-Saharan migration has in recent years become a new sector of employment. Camille Cassarini highlights the effects of this professionalization, a key element of which is the integration of state objectives for checks and controls on migrants by NGOs.
In Tunisia, the issue of the reception of irregular sub-Saharan migrant populations is a relatively recent one. Up until 2011, migration of this kind was managed within a national framework – primarily repressive

- From the Field / Tunisia, Africa, North Africa, NGOs, migration, migration crisis, migrants, reception, law

The Everyday Realities of Marriage Migration

Laura Odasso & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-03-18T06:00:00Z

If unions between nationals from Global North countries and foreigners are frequent, their marriages are often met with suspicion by state administrations. This article analyzes the rationales for this interference in people's private lives and its effects on marital life.
When explaining her encounter with the immigration authorities, Anita says she should never have told the Belgian police the truth. For this Flemish woman in her thirties, everything changed when she told the police officer

- From the Field / migration, justice, Europe, migrants, law, Italy, Belgium

Refugee Encampment on Europe's Borders

Marie Bassi & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-02-04T06:00:00Z

Much media attention on the issue of migration is focused on attempts to cross the Mediterranean Sea and the often dramatic consequences that result. This article sheds light on the trajectories of exiled individuals living in “reception centers” in the south of Italy, which have become an economic sector in their own right.
In Italy, the migration issue has undergone a rapid politicization process since the transformation of the central Mediterranean into one of the main routes to reach the

- From the Field / Italy, migrants, Europe, migration, borders, law, reception

How to Defend the Planet in Law

Valérie Cabanes & translated by Oliver Waine — 2019-04-19T09:26:51Z

In the face of a growing raft of evidence that increasingly points to an imminent global catastrophe—the very self-destruction of humanity, even—one means of taking concrete action, as opposed to fatalism and denial, is to promote new legal frameworks that can structure debate and action on this issue. Valérie Cabanes shows that defining the concept of ecocide is the first key step along this road.
The destruction of the Earth's ecosystem by industrial technologies that show no respect for

- From the Field / international law, environment, global warming, climate change, anthropocène, law, NGOs, ecocide, environmental protection, ecology, nature, mobilization

Childhood Spent Waiting at the Gate

Adeline Perrot & translated by Oliver Waine — 2016-04-01T05:00:00Z

The recent opening of a holding area for “unaccompanied foreign minors” at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport reflects a change in French policy regarding the detention of children at border entry points. Adeline Perrot shows that, in reality, providing care for young people in confinement straddles a fine line between protecting minors in danger and policing migratory movements.
---- Series: Children in the City In July 2011, a closed area for the detention of unaccompanied foreign minors was

- From the Field / architecture, France, Île-de-France, Paris region, Paris, police, children, law, migration, borders, detention centres, airport, hospitality, education, childhood in danger, migratory policy, NGOs, social work

Identity checks and the law

Nathalie Ferré & translated by Oliver Waine — 2013-04-24T10:04:47Z

In France, the issue of identity checks is at the heart of the thorny debate on how to ensure better relations between the police and the public. Against a backdrop of discussions on whether to issue “ID check receipts”, reintroduce uniform numbers or establish a new code of ethics, Nathalie Ferré here provides an overview of the current legal framework.
The existence of proper legislation regarding identity checks in France is relatively recent. Until the 1980s, the national police acted on

- Debates / public space, democracy, police, policing, public order, law, identity checks