Iniuria Migrandi: Criminalization of Immigrants and the Basic Principles of the Criminal Law

In this paper I am specifically concerned with a normative assessment, fromthe perspective of a principled criminal law theory, of norms criminalizing illegalimmigration. The overarching question I will dwell on is one specifically regarding theway of using criminal law which is implied in the enactment of such kinds of norms. Mythesis will essentially be that it constitutes a veritable abuse of criminal law. In twosenses at least: first, in the sense that by criminalizing illegal immigration criminal lawputs a ban on (certain categories of) persons, rather than on their actions/omissions, in away in which a principled criminal law should not do; and—second—in the sense thatthe criminalization of illegal immigrants represents a perversion of the criminal law,being a case in which criminal norms are (unjustifiably) used as means to attain extrapenalaims.