Beyond Citizenship: The Legal Status of Undocumented Lives in Neoliberal Democracies
Keywords:
undocumented individuals, neoliberal democracies, legal liminality, post-national citizenship, crimmigration, legal precarity, human rightsAbstract
This article explores how neoliberal democracies legally construct and manage the status of undocumented individuals, highlighting the systemic exclusion and conditionality embedded in contemporary immigration frameworks. The study employs a scientific narrative review approach based on descriptive analysis to examine peer-reviewed legal scholarship, policy reports, and critical theoretical literature published between 2019 and 2024. Sources were selected across law, political science, and sociology, focusing on key themes such as citizenship, legal liminality, crimmigration, neoliberalism, and undocumented status. Comparative analysis was also conducted across several national contexts, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Australia, to highlight legal and policy divergences in managing undocumented populations. The analysis reveals that undocumented individuals are governed through legal regimes that criminalize presence, restrict access to rights, and condition temporary protections on economic value or compliance. Crimmigration practices, administrative limbo, and detention policies are common tools of enforcement. Neoliberal legal rationalities link recognition to productivity, privatize enforcement responsibilities, and stratify legal protections. This results in widespread legal precarity and systemic disenfranchisement. The review also identifies critical responses such as post-national citizenship, sanctuary policies, and human rights-based frameworks that challenge exclusionary norms and propose more inclusive legal paradigms. Undocumented status in neoliberal democracies is a legal condition shaped by market logic, securitization, and political exclusion. A critical rethinking of legal status and protection is needed—one that moves beyond citizenship and affirms universal personhood and the dignity of all individuals. Future legal frameworks must prioritize equity, humanity, and structural inclusion to overcome entrenched legal marginality.
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