International Immigration via Two Different Types of Midstream Countries

Employing the basic model of illegal migration by Bond and Chen (J Int Econ 23:315−328, 1987) and Yoshida (Indian Econ Rev 28:111−115, 1993), we study the recent trends of illegal migrants in Europe. Initially, they cross the border of marginal countries (e.g., Greece or Italy), which are part of a large economic bloc (i.e., the European Union), with the intention of moving within the bloc to find good job opportunities in more developed countries (e.g., Germany); this is facilitated by a lack of passport controls among member countries. Particularly, we focus on the optimal policies of a highly developed country, as the final destination of immigrants from two different routes (i.e., via one country with border control or via another country without any restriction). We find one available policy that encourages a border country to enhance the level of restriction is not sustainable. On the other hand, introducing border control between border countries without any restriction will be welfare improving under certain reasonable conditions.