Solidarity movements: an ethnography of anti-deportation struggles in Switzerland

Deportation in contemporary times only seems to rise. More and more, foreign nationals are judged to be threats legitimate enough to be expelled by force from a host country to the extent that some argue this action has become a normalized migration governance tool, and authors struggle to see how this scenario can change anytime soon. Still, in many countries, the phenomenon of solidarity movements promoted through political altruism of host country nationals towards irregular migrants against their deportation can be noticed. Despite these occurrences becoming more common, it is rare to see an analysis that argues for their potential to disrupt the embeddedness of the mechanism of deportation. In fact, scholars have argued that these movements lack impetus for change. However, having identified a problematic methodological gap in such studies, this thesis will argue that studying solidarity movements against deportation through ethnography leads to a different conclusion. Focusing on Switzerland because of the high occurrence of such movements in the country, and its configuration as a direct democracy, this inquiry ultimately aims to answer the following question: In what ways can the ethnographic study of Swiss solidarity movements against the detention and expulsion of foreigners disrupt the political practice of deportation?. Employing participant observation of anti-deportation protests, material analysis, and interviews, this thesis will investigate empirical examples of two Swiss solidarity movements that, contrary to usual conclusions, have a radical scope that aims to reform the deportation system and count upon active deportee participation, who demonstrate a political and resistant subjectivity. All in all, this thesis will then argue that it is in the in-depth personal investigation of such episodes that an alternative emerging political imaginary can be observed, which aims to contest the legitimacy of employing deportation as a migration governance tool.