Paper short abstract:

Italy strengthen border controls under European pressure. Immigration laws stigmatized illegal migration by creating the C P T for illegal entrants; a decision that divided the left. I will explore how the discourse on borders’ control affects political rhetoric and the representation of migrants.

Paper long abstract:

The "Europeanization" of borders reveals itself to be a significant factor in the evolution (involution) of Italian migration policies and politics. Indeed, migration into Italy contributed to a growing concern at a European level about frontiers. From a political perspective Italian governments of all political persuasions have had to demonstrate that they are not the "soft underbelly" of Europe. Despite the demand for migrants within an increasingly fragmented and flexible labour market, the Italian government has therefore continued to strengthen border controls under the pressure of the idea of a "Fortress Europe" sanctioned by the Schengen agreement. Already the immigration law of 1998 indicated that the integration of migrants already settled in Italy was contingent upon the state's capacity to prevent further (illegal) immigration. Every year a maximum quota of entries was established which included seasonal and permanent workers and family reunions. The law, however, perpetuated the stigmatisation of illegal immigration by fixing severe punishments for people who encouraged clandestine immigration, and by creating the so-called Centri di Permanenza Temporanea (CPT) for illegal entrants; a political and organizational solution that divided and still divides the left. A real criminalisation of clandestine migrants was sanctioned more strongly with the last right wing law of 2002, which made entry even more difficult and paradoxically "created" more "criminals" within the Italian territory. In its concern with protecting the frontier and the European border, Italian politics increasingly constructed immigrants and asylum seekers as the subjects of racialised political and social discourse. Throughout the last decade irregular migration has been the favourite subject of aggressive political campaigns conducted not only by the extreme right. This feature contributed to the politicisation of the migratory phenomenon and the growth of the anxiety towards flux control and the popular tendency to represent migrants as a socio-cultural problem without appreciating the complexity and variety of migrations. The situation of the residents belonging to ethnic minorities of immigrant origin has been badly affected by this xenophobic climate engendered by this growing tension about the control of European borders. Political and hegemonic constructions of the migrant as "Other" especially when Muslim grew even more in the last five years. Indeed religion and culture were increasingly politicised. Exclusionary practices were often legitimized with cultural rhetoric which celebrates differences to justify inequalities by phrasing opposition to foreigners in terms of common sense themes leading to constructs of the migrant as incommensurably different. This representation may affect personnel in charge of the implementation of civil rights and of policies towards migrants at the everyday and local level. By relying on past fieldwork and recent research, in the paper I will explore the multiple and ambivalent ways the discourse on European borders' control is used in political rhetoric and how it affects everyday representation and institutional practices towards migrants at the local level.