Supporting Migrants Mobility Across Securitised Borders

The article focuses on the role of border actors – namely border area residents and local administrators – mobilising on behalf of, and actively supporting, migrants on the move. By shifting the gaze from classical categories of actors involved in border control (state security actors, on the one side, and migrants on the move, on the other) and grounding the analysis on a specific cross-border point between the Italian Susa Valley and the French region of Hautes-Alpes, it shows the relevance of the local level in shaping border policy outcomes through the creation of non-profit “migration infrastructures”, and state’s reaction through criminalization of solidarity practices.