Towards a More Effective Use of Irregular Migration Data in Policymaking

Concerns around irregular migration have dominated media headlines across Europe, shaped recent elections, and influenced historical policy initiatives such as the new Pact on Migration and Asylum. Discussions and policymaking related to irregular migration are often heavily influenced by the latest numbers and estimates of quickly changing irregular migration trends, such as the number of border crossings or apprehensions of migrants without legal status. Such data also play an important role in advocacy, the evaluation of policies, operational planning, and efforts to foster dialogue and policy innovation.

But before policymakers, practitioners, researchers, nongovernmental organisation staff, and other actors use data on irregular migration, datasets are shaped by many different stakeholders, each with their own objectives and priorities. The first step in this pathway involves defining irregular migration, after which data are collected, shared, accessed, interpreted, and disseminated. In each step—from definition to dissemination—different obstacles emerge that can hinder the effective collection and use of data to help manage migration, support communities in which irregular migrants live, and reach those migrants with essential services. Obstacles that arise earlier on in this process, for example unclear or inconsistent definitions of irregular migration or issues related to data sharing and access, can create problems down the line for data users.

These obstacles’ causes and impacts are many and varied. However, EU-level and national workshops and expert interviews conducted for the MIrreM project, as well as a comprehensive literature review, point to certain common challenges: Most data collection is a byproduct of ongoing operations or reflects political priorities on issues such as border security. Available datasets therefore often do not match the data needs of policymakers and other end users, and they often have data gaps that limit policy development. Unclear and inconsistent definitions of irregular migration, meanwhile, increase the risk of data being misinterpreted and limit comparability over time and across geographies. Datasets on irregular migration also frequently do not include key information about how the data were collected and any associated data quality issues. At the same time, many actors using data on irregular migration lack the data literacy and expertise to properly assess a dataset’s quality and to interpret its contents. Many actors may also struggle to access existing data because of unclear legal regulations, technical and practical obstacles (such as a lack of interoperability between data systems), and informal data-sharing practices that heavily rely on trust and institutional relationships. Finally, even when data are available, potential data users may opt not to use them because they do not view them as suited to their needs, because they do not trust their quality and neutrality, or because they are simply not aware
the data exist.

Efforts to address these challenges could begin from several starting points. These include strengthening local-level data collection, separating data collection from law enforcement functions, harmonising definitions of key concepts, and investing in users’ capacity building and data literacy. Additionally, improving the interoperability of data systems—with proper safeguards in place—and formalising data-sharing agreements could help enhance the accessibility and reliability of irregular migration data. Ultimately, while the increasing availability of data provides hope for more accurate estimates and more evidence-informed policymaking, it remains essential to approach data use with care and safeguards. Recognising the limitations of current datasets and taking steps to manage data users’ expectations will be necessary to help ensure that data serve as a tool for constructive dialogue and effective policy development, rather than a source of misinformation,
fearmongering, and human rights violations.