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Irregular migartion in North Africa has been a central issue for at least three decades. It has become highly present in Euro-Mediterranean politics since the early 1990s. Human mobility in the zone has evolved from episodic labor and post-colonial movements to a governance issue. Irregular migration can be defined as a movement that takes place outside the regulatory norms of the sending, transit, and receiving country (International Organization for Migration [IOM], 2011). Unlike regular migration, the reasons behind irregular border crossings generally come from inequalities, conflicts, governance failures, and limited opportunities.
The Mediterranean basin became one of the most visible spaces for irregular migration. According to UNHCR (2023), the Central Mediterranean route is an active hub globally. It reflets the endless cycle of irregular migration despite the continuous efforts to manage it.
Historically, there is a traditional perception of countries of origin in North Africa, such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Libya. This perception has gradually changed by the countries’ transformation into transit spaces for Sub-Saharan African migrants. These migrants are seeking an entrance to Europe. This change accelerated, particularly after 2015. The European Union adopted the European Agenda on Migration. The agenda focsuses on cooperation with third countries and introducing externalized border control mechanisms (European Commission, 2015). Such policies are designed to reduce and manage arrivals. However, they have also contributed to the prolonging presence of migrants. As a result, North Africa no longer functions as a departure zone but as a space for temporary settlement, repeated border crossing attempts, and containment.
This kind of role shift has given rise to multidimensional consequences. Firstly, transit states face institutional strain, limited integration capacity, and social tensions. Secondly, irregular migrants experience situations of uncertainty, restricted legal protection, and vulnerability. “The endless cycle” of irregular crossings despite the continuous securitized policies shows that migration in the region is not a single series of movement from origin to destination, but a recurring cycle rooted within broader structural conditions. As Castles, de Haas, and Miller (2014) argue, migration systems are shaped by interconnected political, economic, and social dynamics that cannot be addressed through border control alone.
The main question guiding this study is how North Africa’s transformation from a region of origin to a transit space is redefining state responsibilities, border governance, and the meaning of migration within a securitized Mediterranean policy. North Africa today occupies an ambivalent position: geographically African, politically entangled with Europe, and structurally pressured by EU migration agreements. The core problem identified in this research is the emergence of a prolonged “in-between” phase, where migrants are trapped in transit spaces that were never designed to host them long-term, while states struggle to balance external pressures and internal capacities.
To address this issue, this study purports to discuss four central sections. Initially, it looks at the historical migration profile of North African States. Moving forward, it investigates the impact of EU border externalization and bilateral agreements. Alongside this, the study considers the concept of transit migration and indefinite temporariness and concludes addressing the socio-political consequences for both migrants and host societies.
The historical migration profile of North African States (from “origin” to the early steps towards irregularity and transit)
Tracing the historical migration profile of North Africa should perhaps start with a simple yet unforgotten corner: for most of the twentieth century, the region’s dominant “migration identity” appeared as a geographical departure point shaped by colonial ties, labor recruitment and family settlement in Europe. Already by the post-war period, cross-Mediterranean movement had become both massive and structured: Simon & Noin (1972) note that “since 1946” the migration of North Africans toward Europe developed in “a more and more massive and diversified” way, with Algerian migration in particular reaching very high levels by the early 1970s. This detail is not minor as it anchors the idea that origin is not an episode in North Africa but rather a historical layer. Analysis by Fargues (2017) on the Mediterranean migration system confirms that North Africa functioned as primarily a region of labor export toward Europe, forming long-standing migration corridors between the Maghreb and Western Europe.
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