A Lack of Legal Protection and Limited Ways Out: How Asylum Seekers Cope with Liminality on Greek Islands: Lesbos and Chios

Abstract

This article focuses on the experiences and coping strategies of those who have sought asylum on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios after the EU–Turkey deal of March 2016. Based on semi-structured interviews with asylum seekers and participatory observations on the two islands between July and August 2017, we explore the impact of the EU–Turkey deal on asylum seekers and how they cope with it. Although the implementation of the deal has an effect on their ability to cross irregularly to Europe, our findings show that many asylum seekers still come to the islands, aspiring to move on and, in some cases, succeeding. A combination of factors facilitates or hinders a secondary movement from the islands despite the structural constraints. We saw that, often, those with a genuine asylum claim choose to move on despite the risk of losing their legal status. In this way, our research challenges the discursive categorization of those who wait through containment as ‘deserving refugees’ and those who move on as ‘undeserving migrants’ and provides a critical analysis of current European migration policies.