Delivered by Ingenta IP : 94.67.166.95 On: Thu, 17 Oct 2019 07:25:18 Copyright The Policy Press Dimitra-Dora Teloni and Regina Mantanika Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union) and the Eurosur external border surveillance system (see Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2012). After Italy and Spain ‘closed down’ their maritime borders,1 the number of immigrants trying to enter Europe through Greece rose, as nationalities that previously did not transit through the country began using this route, thus showing that migration routes are related to blocking policies; they adjust with every change and become more and more difficult and costly for migrants. The main instruments to prevent migration on the Greek–Turkish border are known as ‘pushbacks’.2 In addition, there have been mass deportations using non-standard procedures and small-scale returns on the basis of an existing agreement between Greece and Turkey and other agreements such as the one between Italy and Greece and, also, the Dublin III Convention (EU, 2013).3 In designing its external borders, the EU has created a geography of externalisation and exclusion. Greece plays a significant part in this geography. Refugees and immigrants, when they finally manage to reach the EU���s borders (by avoiding and surviving the controls) mostly find themselves in limbo,‘trapped’ in rundown districts in Athens but also in other Greek cities.The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) has described the situation in Greece as a ‘humanitarian crisis’ (UNHCR, 2010). The EU conceives of this crisis as a locally determined deficiency and expresses what it calls ‘solidarity’ by funding repressive mechanisms. In reality, this translates to a landscape of non-reception, a scenery of police raids and arbitrary detention (see Mantanika, 2014).The final objective is not only to keep away or out of sight a population that is not tolerated, but also to intimidate anyone who tries to cross the borders irregularly. To quote a senior police officer on the issue of migrants in Greece: ‘Our goal is to make their life unbearable’ (TVXS, 2013). Greece has become an emblematic case study for the arbitrariness with which migrants have been treated. For many years, undocumented immigrants have had no way of obtaining regular status other than applying for asylum.4 In reality, refugees are being deported and asylum seekers, including minors, are being systematically detained. In general, they face appalling and inhuman conditions during detention and in everyday life. One of the practices that are conducted for the sake of non-tolerance are the socalled ‘sweep’ operations. These are raids orchestrated by the authorities on places of residence, in public spaces or on the streets, in order to arrest or deter undocumented migrants. This is not a recent phenomenon; only it has become more and more established in recent years. In 2007, the western port city of Patras was the scene of a major reaction against the existence of a self-organised camp where Afghans stayed while trying to cross the Adriatic Sea border. In one protest against the camp, organised by residents and businesspeople living and working near the area and supported by the municipal authorities, the main slogan was: ‘We are not going to let the dream of the refugees become the nightmare of our city.’ Almost a year later, the dismantling of the predominantly Afghan camp attracted considerable media publicity. During this period, raids in areas where migrants lived or gathered began to be trivialised. The same happened in May 2011 in Igoumenitsa, another port city on the western coast. Municipal and governmental practices of ‘migrant hunting’ were established not 190