Migrant

Immigration & Borders
Written By Cassie

“Migrant” is broad, and it gets used to flatten different legal categories into one. That flattening is often the whole move.

Definition

A migrant is someone who moves away from their usual place of residence—within a country or across borders—temporarily or permanently, for many reasons (work, education, family, safety, opportunity).

Technical meaning vs common usage

Technical: describes movement; it does not, by itself, define legal status or protection category.
Common usage: “undocumented person” or “refugee.”

How the term gets stretched or misused

The term gets weaponized when:

  • it’s used to erase protection categories (refugee/asylum)

  • it’s used as a proxy for illegality

  • it becomes a catch-all that blocks process-based accountability

Where the power sits

The system’s power sits in classification, not the word “migrant”:

  • visa pathways (work, family, study)

  • protection pathways (asylum, refugee recognition)

  • enforcement pathways (detention, removal, discretion)

This does not mean…

  • Undocumented status.

  • Refugee protection eligibility.

  • Any specific legality or illegality.

Why precision matters

If you use “migrant” for everything, you can’t explain what’s happening because different systems produce different outcomes. Precision forces: which pathway, which rights, which decision-maker?

Neutrality note

This defines the term and its misuse patterns without taking a position on migration policy.

Related HISW

Sources

Sources below distinguish descriptive migration terms from legal immigration classifications.

  • International Organization for Migration — Glossary on Migration (2019) https://www.iom.int/glossary-migration

  • Congressional Research Service — Immigration Terminology and Categories (2021) https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45020

Cassie
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