Between Welcome and Exclusion: Discretion in Arrival Infrastructures

This article explores discretionary power from the perspective of people who have migrated. Drawing on insights from ethnographic research, our analysis examines the experiences of migrants as they attempt to settle within spaces shaped by existing cultural and political norms and hierarchies while remaining subject to ongoing negotiation. Within migration scholarship, these spaces are conceptualised as arrival infrastructures encompassing social, material, and administrative structures, as well as formal and informal systems, that govern the reception and settlement of migrants in their new environments. We argue that arrival infrastructures hold the potential for fostering ‘welcoming’ approaches towards migrants. However, being deeply embedded in everyday bordering practices and colonial imaginaries of European superiority, they often reproduce broader societal biases and power dynamics. These dynamics become particularly visible in the discretionary practices of actors involved in migrant reception and integration. Our aim is to demonstrate how mundane discretion, as exercised within arrival infrastructures, frequently impedes migrants from achieving a sense of full belonging, instead reinforcing processes of othering through both formal and informal means. We conclude by reflecting on the methodological challenges of studying discretionary practices in arrival contexts – acts that both reflect societal norms and significantly shape the possibilities for migrant integration and empowerment.