Social protection and migration control: The case of migrant care workers and Parisian welfare hotels

Abstract

This article aims to bypass polarized debates that either accuse migrants of abusing state forms of social protection or accuse states of excluding migrants from welfare provisions. It seeks to do so by analyzing the intersection of formal and informal forms of social protection. By formal social protection, the article means social services provided by the state. “Informal social protection” is used to refer to support mechanisms among family and social networks. Taking as a point of departure the housing strategies of migrant (care) workers and migrant families in Paris, the article is based on semi-directed, open-ended interviews with migrant (care) workers, migrant families, hotel managers, and social workers, as well as on participant observations of migrant families during clandestine visits in so-called welfare hotels. By exploring the operational dynamics of welfare hotels, the article illustrates how formal social protection schemes can isolate migrant women from their social networks. The article concludes by stressing the need to think about the social protection for migrant (care) workers in a way that allows both for informal and transnational protection mechanisms.

Keywords:

• migration control
• social protection
• transnationalism
• welfare hotel
• shelter

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the input from discussions at two symposia “Regulating transnational work and family in times of crisis” (VU Amsterdam, 2013) and “Brokering Human Security: Access at times of heightened migration control” (CERI Sciences Po Paris, 2013), as well as the fruitful comments by Sarah van Walsum, Saskia Bonjour, Erwan Le Méner, the anonymous reviewers and the editors at Transnational Social Review.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The lack of specialized accommodation in Paris means that organizations supporting asylum seekers also regularly have to rely on welfare hotels.

2. All names have been replaced by pseudonyms.

3. Between 1994 and 1999, the numbers of Cameroonians entering French territory more than doubled.

4. In 2009, for example, fewer than 10% of families in temporary accommodation were French nationals (Guyavarch & Le Méner, 2010, p. 19).

5. For parallels in the UK, see Price & Spencer, 2015, p. 57.

6. For tensions in the UK between accommodation in Bed and Breakfast facilities and the welfare of children, see Price & Spencer, 2015.

7. For a broader picture on connections between homelessness and sexuality, see also Oppenchaim, Pourette, LeMéner, & Anne, 2010.

Additional information

Funding

This research was generously funded by the “Migration Law as a Family Matter” research programme of the NWO, the “Research in Paris” initiative of the City of Paris, as well as kindly hosted by the CERI at Sciences Po Paris.