Homeless or refugee? Civil Society Actors and the (un)making of internal borders in an Italian frontier town

Migrants’ access to the national territory is filtered through categorisation
processes that entangle the legal–administrative statuses produced by
immigration controls with stratified access to social and political rights,
representing a form of internal bordering. Drawing upon qualitative data on
Civil Society Actors (CSAs) who provide services to homeless migrants in an
Italian frontier town, this article identifies two main types of practices that
can be used by CSAs to reshape internal borders: either de-institutionalising
internal borders through the circulation of non-state resources or engaging
with institutionalised internal borders by expanding or ensuring migrants’
access to state resources through a mix of cooperation and conflict with
governmental actors. The article contributes to the broader debate on the
role of CSAs in drawing internal borders in frontier towns and discusses the
policy implications of CSAs’ actions at the local level and beyond.