Illegal Immigrants as Citizens in Developing Countries.

According to the theories of immigration and citizenship, states will monitor, control, and restrict illegal immigration and other unwanted flows from another country, as has been the experience of most countries in the developed world. The success of most immigration policies is based on these examples. Yet, my research shows that many illegal immigrants and displaced populations gain access to citizenship and voting without going through institutionalized processes that safeguard citizenship: a phenomenon that contradicts everything the leading immigration and citizenship theories would have us expect. Using my research on Indonesian illegal immigration to Malaysia and Bangladeshi illegal immigration to India I show how illegal immigrants and other displaced populations gain access to citizenship in developing states. In both India and Malaysia, illegal immigration is a national security issue. Illegal immigrants and displaced populations are conferred citizenship, and therefore, play an electoral role due to the widespread use of documents, a variable of critical importance to the settlement of such populations. A focus on the role of documents in the post-September 9/11 world arose due to the challenges posed by terrorist networks to traditional immigration policies. By showing the enabling role that documents play in the global mobility of labor, legal or illegal, my comparative cases in India and Malaysia question traditional scholarship on immigration and citizenship. I conclude by highlighting the generalizability of my cases and what they tell us about illegal immigrant participation in the international system. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]