ABSTRACT

Precarious legal status trajectories (PLSTs) are marked by periods without state authorisation and/or forms of temporary authorisation. They are temporally prolonged and directionally unpredictable, and may be spatially, juridically and substantively discontinuous. Their complexity poses challenges for researchers interested in the relationship between changes in legal status and differential inclusion. We examine the trajectories of illegalised Anglo-Caribbean and Latin American migrants living in Canada in the mid-2000s who applied for one or both of two humanitarian legal status adjustment mechanisms to obtain permanent residence: late refugee claims and applications on humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Despite sharing early illegalisation, we find regional racialised and gendered differences in their PLSTs. We present a framework for understanding how different trajectories are populated, and how the somewhat unpredictable outcomes of adjudications may lead to further applications and a reorganisation of PLSTs. We conceptualise PLSTs as assembled through (1) colonial legacies and histories of migration that contribute to racialised humanitarian deservingness, (2) state policies and humanitarian adjudication procedures, and (3) everyday encounters between migrants and other social and institutional actors. Our analysis shows how these elements come together and generate variable PLSTs and multi-dimensional differential inclusion.

摘要

不稳定的法律地位轨迹（PLST）以没有国家授权和/或临时授权形式的时期标记。它们在时间上是延长的并且在方向上是不可预测的，并且可能在空间，法律上和实质上是不连续的。它们的复杂性给对法律地位变化与差别包容之间的关系感兴趣的研究人员提出了挑战。我们研究了在2000年代中期居住在加拿大的非法盎格鲁-加勒比海和拉丁美洲移民的轨迹，他们申请了两种人道主义法律地位调整机制中的一种或两种以获取永久居留权：晚期难民要求以及基于人道主义和同情心的申请。尽管分享了早期的非法行为，但我们发现其PLST中存在种族和性别差异。我们提供了一个框架，用于了解如何填充不同的轨迹，以及某些无法预测的裁决结果如何导致PLST的进一步应用和重组。我们通过（1）有助于种族主义化的人道主义应得的殖民地遗产和移民历史，（2）国家政策和人道主义审判程序以及（3）移民与其他社会和制度参与者之间的日常相遇来概念化PLST。我们的分析显示了这些元素如何结合在一起并产生可变的PLST和多维微分包含。我们通过（1）有助于种族主义化的人道主义应得的殖民地遗产和移民历史，（2）国家政策和人道主义审判程序以及（3）移民与其他社会和制度参与者之间的日常相遇来概念化PLST。我们的分析显示了这些元素如何结合在一起并产生可变的PLST和多维微分包含。我们通过（1）有助于种族主义化的人道主义应得的殖民地遗产和移民历史，（2）国家政策和人道主义审判程序以及（3）移民与其他社会和制度参与者之间的日常相遇来概念化PLST。我们的分析显示了这些元素如何结合在一起并产生可变的PLST和多维微分包含。