"We are not policemen but we must prevent them from walking on the rails". Railway workers and migration controls in the Basque Country (France) - HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Communication dans un congrès Année : 2023

"We are not policemen but we must prevent them from walking on the rails". Railway workers and migration controls in the Basque Country (France)

Bénédicte Michalon

Résumé

If railroads have always been used by migrants, the strengthening of migration controls at the borders of the French state since the mid-2010s have put the railroads and their professionals face to face with the migration issue. How does this issue emerge in this transportation work? How do railway workers, whose various jobs do not initially involve controlling foreigners, position themselves in relation to this new dimension of their activity? Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in 2021-2022 among railway workers in three stations in the Basque Country in France located near the Franco-Spanish border, the article will show that the issue of migration is now present in all railway workers' professions, but remains poorly problematized and framed by higher hierarchical levels. It is more a matter of discretion than of a genuine company policy of integrating migration control into railway activities. The paper will trace the emergence of the migration "problem" in this transport sector. It will then focus on the practical implications of this issue in the daily work of railway workers, which is largely affected by concerns for the security and safety of users and workers. The main moral dilemma that railway workers face will be analysed: whether or not to collaborate with the police (border police, national police, gendarmerie, SNCF railway police). The analysis will thus show how the pluralization of policing can be deployed between different actors in the public sector, and on a register that is more discretionary than structured and assertive.

Domaines

Géographie
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Dates et versions

halshs-04377445, version 1 (07-01-2024)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : halshs-04377445 , version 1

Citer

Bénédicte Michalon. "We are not policemen but we must prevent them from walking on the rails". Railway workers and migration controls in the Basque Country (France). Control, Mobilities and Social Order, Amicelle Anthony, Grondin David, Mar 2023, Montreal, Canada. ⟨halshs-04377445⟩
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Dernière date de mise à jour le 28/04/2024
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