In her dissertation, Mieke will illustrate how unauthorized migrants understand migration control and how these controls impact both their everyday lives and future. She discusses the pains of being unauthorized, the incorporation of NGOs in migration control structures, the perceived legitimacy of current controlling system and the unauthorized legal consciousness. Next to her PhD, Mieke is together with Richard Staring involved in an evaluation of an Assisted Voluntary Return-project of an NGO that is based in Rotterdam. Previously, she conducted research on immigration detention, everyday lives of rejected asylum seekers, transnational prisons and national-foreign offenders.