The Local Governance of Immigration and Asylum: Policies of Exclusion as a Battleground

The chapter analyses how local policies of exclusion have been redirected in recent years towards a particular category of immigrants, namely asylum seekers, representing them as dangerous, undeserving and welfare scroungers. But these policies do not remain unchallenged. On the other side, local actors from the civil society mobilize in favour of the reception of refugees and immigrants, included those who are not entitled to a legal residence status. The second argument, consequently, is that the governance of immigration, especially at local level, can be defined as a battleground, in which different actors take part, according with various economic interests, social bonds, moral values and political beliefs.