AHMR African Human Mobilty Review - Volume 8 No 3, SEP-DEC 2022 2013.6 Declining regular options have resulted in increased mixed and clandestine migration. Migrants using irregular and unregulated methods have increased, and more women, youth, and families migrate. Immigration sentiments and policies have become increasingly restrictive as xenophobia has become more entrenched. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has been focused on applying a self-styled ‘risk-based’ approach to immigration legislation. Policy reforms have focused on implementing restrictive measures to reduce low-skilled immigration from neighbouring countries. While South Africa insists upon its commitment to Afrocentric ideals, it prioritises restrictive measures that disproportionately and negatively impact African migrants from neighbouring countries.7 There is also a substantial gap between legislative provisions and administrative practice. While legislation is increasingly passed to restrict entry and reduce the rights of foreigners inside South Africa, the legal frameworks that protect people and give them rights are not implemented as prescribed. Migrants in South Africa struggle to access their respective rights and report rampant xenophobia and corruption within the department. The DHA has widely been accused of wilfully creating administrative barriers to frustrate and deter irregular migrants.8 The DHA has litigated against citizenship cases, typically on the grounds that ‘illegal’ migrants are seeking legal loopholes that would compromise the country’s security. In a 2019 case related to a former orphan of (presumed) Eswatini origin whose children have been rendered stateless despite having a South African father, the DHA director of travel documents and citizenship, Richard Sikakane, disputed statelessness itself, claiming, ‘I seriously dispute that any person can be born stateless.’9 In 2018, the DHA proposed new regulations for the Births and Deaths Registration Act (BDRA), calling to replace birth certificates for children of foreign parents with ‘birth confirmations’. Human rights advocates have argued against the proposed birth confirmations, claiming that — by Home Affairs’ own admission — birth confirmations do not amount to birth certificates. They argue that several legal frameworks, including the South African Constitution itself, provide every child with the right to be registered immediately after birth regardless of the parents’ immigration status.10 South Africa has the highest rate of birth registration in the region. Due to a Jonathan Crush Belinda Dodson Vincent Williams & Daniel Tevera ‘Harnessing migration for inclusive growth and development in Southern Africa’ Southern African Migration Programme (2017). 7 Mbiyozo op cit note 43. 8 Tove van Lennep ‘The state of the South African refugee protection regime: Part II – Politics and policy’ Helen Suzman Foundation, available at https://hsf.org.za/publications/hsf-briefs/the-state-of-the- south-african-refugee-protectionregime-part-i-current-status 9 Tania Broughton ‘Mother challenges Home Affairs’ Mail & Guardian (16 August 2019), available at https://mg.co.za/ article/2019-08-16-00-mother- challenges-home-affairs 10 Centre for Child Law (CCL) & Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) ‘Comments on the draft regulations to the Births and Deaths Registration Act’ (November 2018), available at http://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ CCL- LHR-Comments-on-the-draft-regulations-to-the-BDRA-16-Nov-2018. pdf 6 86