Ethnologia Balkanica 14 (2010) No Safe Haven: the Reception of Irregular Boat Migrants in Greece Jutta Lauth Bacas, Athens Abstract Unauthorized entry of migrants into Europe’s “Schengenland” is a social phenomenon that has not only increased rapidly in the last decade, it has also become a major concern of migration studies in recent years. The Greek-Turkish border, which separates EU territory from a non-European country and which is often crossed by irregular migrants and persons seeking refuge from the Middle and Far East, is especially relevant for studying irregular migration flows in Southeastern Europe. The article shall focus on the reception of unauthorized migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos who managed to cross the Greek-Turkish border by boat clandestinely. Based on anthropological fieldwork on the Greek island of Lesbos, ethnographic data on the migratory process from Turkey to Greece about how undocumented migrants cross the maritime border, how they are received in Greece and how their apprehension on the island of Lesbos works will be presented. In discussing the findings, the category of illegal migration shall be challenged. Based on empirical data from the Greek-Turkish maritime border, we have to think of managing unauthorized migration as a complex system with interrelated legal practices as well as unlawful actions of all actors involved. 1. Introduction The unauthorized entry of clandestine migrants into Southeast European countries, be they Schengen member states or not, is a social phenomenon that has increased rapidly in the last decade. As a social problem occurring in a number of countries bordering the Mediterranean, it has also recently become a new and developing field in migration studies.1 The concept of irregular migration applied in these studies refers to individuals who cross international borders without the necessary permits or visa documents.2 Due to this unauthorized entry into the country, the presence of clan1 2 An overview of migration processes in the Mediterranean area is given by Baldwin-Edwards (2004), King et al. (2000). The concept of irregular migration applied in many recent studies refers to migratory processes occurring on international borders with social actors who cross the state border clan-