city centre through daily patrols for registration, verification/identification purposes of third-country nationals and police operations in old/abandoned buildings where thirdcountry nationals mostly live. As Martina Tazzioli and Maurice Stierl (2021) discuss in their work on borders and deterrence during the Covid-19 pandemic, migrants were not seen (only) as subjects ‘at risk’ nor as ‘risky subjects’; rather, they were ousted in the name of safety. The May 2011 plan also foresaw a new collaboration between the Ministry of Citizen Protection and the Ministry of Defense in order to locate former military camps for the establishment of first reception centres and detention facilities. Together the aspects of the plan were an attempt to ensure the residents and visitors of Athens the right to a safe, viable, attractive and lively city and the inalienable right of citizens to reclaim public space and enhance the city’s cultural [Greek] identity, making clear that in this picture undocumented immigrants were considered neither residents nor visitors in the city. The government’s holistic approach, then, was designed to form hygienic-sanitary borders, bringing into play bordering mechanisms which enact forms of racialised containment predicated upon the doctrine of ‘deter and confine to protect’ (Tazzioli and Stierl, 2021, p. 78). However, the means through which these interventions would be achieved were lacking. Therefore, in October 2010 the Greek Government sent an urgent call to Brussels for assistance in the control of its external land border with Turkey due to an ‘exceptional mass inflow of irregular immigrants’. In an immediate response, in November 2010, considering the Greek-Turkish border the centre of gravity of its operations (FIDH et al., 2014), FRONTEX deployed the first Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABIT) units to assist Greece in the emergency situation it was facing (Frontex, 2011a). Under this project, around 200 officers and interpreters were deployed to patrol the land borders and collect intelligence information on migratory routes and smuggling activities. The RABIT units were replaced in 2011 by Joint Operations Poseidon Land and Sea, which were more targeted at stemming the flows (Fronetx, 2011b). Both operations were renewed in 2012. The government’s strong political will in controlling the country’s borders was further translated into the construction of a fence at the Greek-Turkish land border. According to Mr Papoutsis, the fence sent ‘a clear message to the international community and the EU too that Greece is capable of securing its borders and that it won’t in the future allow immigration flows to pass.’ (Minister of Citizen Protection, 2012a). The political discourse on the fence reveals that, it would not only organize immigration but it would also bear a symbolic character too. As 98