Title: Governmental practices of regularisation: assessment of eligibility criteria in Canada's 1973 Adjustment of Status Program

Authors: David Moffette

Addresses: Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa, 120 University Pr., Ottawa, ON, K1N 9A7, Canada

Abstract: In the contested politics of mobility, programs to regularise undocumented immigrants act simultaneously as progressive tools for social inclusion, and as bordering devices organised around states' assessment of desirability. This article studies these dynamics during the most significant regularisation program in Canada's history, the 1973 Adjustment of Status Program. Drawing on an analysis of institutional archival material, parliamentary debates, and news articles from that era, the article explores the logics and practices of governmental actors involved in designing, promoting, and implementing the program, paying close attention to criteria of inclusion and exclusion. It shows how, constrained by a short timeline and the pressure of advocacy groups, government officials repeatedly opted to ease the assessment of eligibility criteria. Ultimately, the article demonstrates that a politics of regularisation is fundamentally a politics of negotiation, and draws lessons that could inform contemporary programs.

Keywords: immigration; regularisation; amnesty; undocumented; adjustment of status program; Canada; desirability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMBS.2024.145453

International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 2024 Vol.8 No.3/4, pp.218 - 239

Received: 11 Dec 2023
Accepted: 25 Jul 2024
Published online: 01 Apr 2025 *

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