is seen by states as a sovereign right. Yet, as Loyd and Mountz (2018, p. 231) explicitly state ‘the legality (if not legitimacy) of these practices within the nation-state system does not compensate for or erase the violence they inflict thought migration policing and detention’. By focusing on immigration detention this thesis aims to break the trend of the racialised distinction between good refugees and bad migrants and bring to light significant omissions and structural decisions that contributed to covering up the reality behind bars in the first place. Locating and documenting immigration detention in Greece There is little official clarity over how many people are actually detained and the sites they are placed. So, too, it is difficult to demarcate the detention estate. There are seven active pre-removal detention centres in Greece. Six centres on the mainland (Amygdaleza, Petrou Ralli, Corinth, Xanthi, Paranesti, Fylakio) and one on the islands in Kos (Figure 3 below). The Lesvos pre-removal detention center has suspended its operation due to damages after the fire in Moria in September 2020 (Cossé, 2020). The total pre-removal detention capacity was 2,900 places at the end of 2021. The estimated budget for the functioning of pre-removal detention centres for the period between 2018 and 2022 is €80,799,488 (Asylum Information Database, 2021). 17