Fundamental Social Rights for Irregular Migrants: The Right to Health Care in France and England

Abstract

Desperate and vulnerable people, who take enormous risks to migrate to Europe in rickety boats or concealed in the containers of articulated lorries, are familiar images portrayed in the media of "irregular migrants". Irregular migration has become a major political concern both at the European level and in the wider international context. In the European Union, politicians have identified irregular migration as a "problem" and have given priority to preventing this phenomenon in the development of the common asylum and immigration policy.