Frontline Practices and Ambivalent Roles in the Reception and Integration of Immigrants in a Rural Area in Portugal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/mig.23801.027Keywords:
frontline practices, street-level bureaucracy, integration processes, rural areas in demographic declineAbstract
In Portugal, rural areas have increasingly become immigrant destinations, and attracting them forms part of rural revitalisation strategies. However, these arrivals challenge municipalities with limited resources and capacity. Drawing on a qualitative case study in a municipality located in the Lower Alentejo region in southern Portugal, characterised by demographic decline and growing dependence on migrant agricultural labour, this article analyses frontline professionals’ practices in immigrant reception and integration in a rural context. Within street-level bureaucracy and bordering practices, the analysis employs four analytical dimensions: structural scarcity and labour precarity of immigrants, formal and informal mechanisms, stereotypical representations, and migration-related tensions. The findings show how resource scarcity, political neglect, and tensions surrounding immigration reconfigure discretion and moral agency, requiring strategies beyond formal frameworks. This exposes tensions between a temporary-labour immigration model and structures designed for permanent population, where professionals perform ambivalent roles, facilitating or constraining access to services and rights.
Downloads
References
Anderson, B. (2013). Us and them? The dangerous politics of immigration control. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199691593.001.0001
Banco de Portugal. (2024). Apresentação do Fórum Economia. Banco de Portugal. https://www.bportugal.pt/en/node/134933
Belabas, W., & Gerrits, L. (2015). Going the extra mile? How street-level bureaucrats deal with the integration of immigrants. Social Policy & Administration, 51(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12184
Belabas, W., & Gerrits, L. (2017). Constraints and Facilitators for Successful Integration: How Bureaucratic Contacts Affects Migrants’ Pathways. International Journal of Social Science Studies, 5, 54-65. https://doi.org/10.11114/ijsss.v5i7.2496
Biffi Isla, V. (2022). Community-level bureaucrats conserving the Peruvian Amazon. Public Administration and Development, 42(1), 44-54. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1958
Borrelli, L. M. (2018). Caught between emotions, law and everyday practices: Street-level bureaucrats in the European migration regime (Doctoral dissertation). University of Bern, Switzerland. http://biblio.unibe.ch/download/eldiss/18borrelli_lm.pdf
Borrelli, L. M., & Trasciani, G. (2019). “I like to work with people” – Everyday stories and reflections from street-level workers in the migration regime on what motivates their tasks. Politiche Sociali / Social Policies, 3, 407-426.
Codó, E. (2008). Immigration and Bureaucratic Control: Language Practices in Public Administration. De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110199086
Collyer, M., Hinger, S., & Schweitzer, R. (2020). Politics of (Dis)Integration – An introduction. In S. Hinger & R. Schweitzer (eds.), Politics of (Dis)integration (pp. 1-18). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25089-8_1
Costa, A. P. (2020). Os Burocratas de Nível de Rua e a Implementação da Lei de Estrangeiros em Portugal. FCSH/Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Costa, A. P. (2025). Política de imigração e mercado de trabalho: Uma análise da manifestação de interesse (Policy Brief n.o 01/2025). IPRI-NOVA. https://doi.org/10.23906/pb01/2025
Czaika, M., & De Haas, H. (2013). The effectiveness of immigration policies. Population and Development Review, 39(3), 487-508. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00613.x
De Genova, N. (2013). Spectacles of migrant “illegality”: The scene of exclusion, the obscene of inclusion. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(7), 1180-1198. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2013.783710
De Haas, H., Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2020). The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World. Red Globe Press.
Diogo, E. (2024). “Why Here?”—Pull Factors for the Attraction of Non-EU Immigrants to Rural Areas and Smaller Cities. Social Sciences, 13(4), 184. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040184
Dubois, V. (2023). A Vida no Guichê: Administrar a Miséria. Etnográfica Press. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.etnograficapress.8762
Enbuska, M. (2024). From integration policies to belonging: Local integration workers’ boundary construction concerning immigrants in rural areas. International Migration & Integration, 25, 1479-1499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-024-01131-2
Estevens, A., Malheiros, J., & Silva, K. (2021, June). Imigrantes laborais no Alentejo agrícola: sobre-exploração, vulnerabilidades e integração transnacional. Le Monde Diplomatique – Edição Portuguesa. https://pt.mondediplo.com/2021/06/imigrantes-laborais-no-alentejo-agricola-sobre-exploracao-vulnerabilidades-e.html
Ferreira, V. R. S., & Medeiros, J. J. (2016). Fatores que moldam o comportamento dos burocratas de nível de rua no processo de implementação de políticas públicas. Cadernos EBAPE.BR, 14(3), 776-793. https://doi.org/10.1590/1679-395129522
Fonseca, M. L. (2008). New waves of immigration to small towns and rural areas in Portugal. Population, Space and Place, 14(6), 525-535. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.514
Fonseca, M. L. (2024). Population change, migration and mobility patterns in Portugal. In R. C. Lois-González & J. A. Rio Fernandes (eds.), Urban change in the Iberian Peninsula (pp. 3-20). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-59679-7_1
Fonseca, M. L., Esteves, A., & Moreno, L. (2021). Migration and the reconfiguration of rural places: The accommodation of difference in Odemira. Portugal. Population, Space and Place, 27(8), 2445. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2445
Gidron, N., & Hall, P. A. (2020). Populism as a Problem of Social Integration. Comparative Political Studies, 53(7), 1027-1059. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414019879947
Glorius, B., Bürer, M., & Schneider, H. (2021). Integration of refugees in rural areas and the role of the receiving society: conceptual review and analytical framework. ERDKUNDE. Journal of Human and Physical Geographies, 75(1), 51-60. https://doi.org/10.3112/erdkunde.2021.01.04
Glyniadaki, K. (2021). Toward street-level communities of practice? The implications of actor diversification in migration management in Athens and Berlin. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 19(3), 258-271. https://doi.org/10.1080/15562948.2021.1954740
Glyniadaki, K. (2022). Street-Level Actors, Migrants, and Gender: Dealing with Divergent Perspectives. Administration & Society, 54(3), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997211031464
Harrits, G., & Møller, M. (2013). Prevention at the front line: How home nurses, pedagogues, and teachers transform public worry into decisions on special efforts. Public Management Review, 16(4), 447-480. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.841980
Hupe, P., & Buffat, A. (2014). A public service gap: Capturing contexts in a comparative approach of street-level bureaucracy. Public Management Review, 16(4), 548-569. https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2013.854401
Hupe, P., & Steen, T. (2022). Local governance and street-level bureaucracy: The ground floor of social policy. In Y. Kazepov, E. Barberis, R. Cucca & E. Mocca (eds.), Handbook on Urban Social Policies (pp. 235-249). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788116152.00025
Infantino, F., & Sredanovic, D. (2022). The perspectives of implementation in migration policies: an introduction. In F. Infantino & D. Sredanovic (eds.), Migration control in practice: before and within the borders of the state (pp. 9-18). Université de Bruxelles.
Instituto Nacional de Estatística. (2026). Estimativas de população residente: População residente aumenta para 11,4 milhões – 2025. https://www.ine.pt/xportal/xmain?xpid=INE&xpgid=ine_destaques&DESTAQUESdest_boui=770295679&DESTAQUESmodo=2&xlang=pt
Jeziorek, M. (2026). The emotional infrastructure of migration governance. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2026.2619133
Jonitz, E., Schiller, M., & Scholten, P. (2024). Are small towns a battleground for migration governance? Negotiating refugee integration in small towns in the Netherlands. Local Government Studies, 52(3), 513-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2024.2357306
Kelly, M. (2024). “We just fly by the seat of our pants sometimes here”: Understanding the Provision of Settlement and Integration Supports in Rural Saskatchewan. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 56(3), 123-143. https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2024.a939618
Lang, C., Pott, A., & Shinozaki, K. (2021). Organisations and the production of migration and in/exclusion. Comparative Migration Studies, 60(9). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-021-00274-w
Lannutti, V. (2023). Street level bureaucrats between frustrations, powerlessness, bottom-up and resilience processes. Social Sciences, 12(3), 82-87. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20231203.12
Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-Level Bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the Individual in Public Service. Russell Sage Foundation.
Lotta, G. (2021). Burocracia e implementação de políticas públicas: Desafios e potencialidades para redução de desigualdades. Enap.
Lotta, G. S., & Oliveira, M. M. (2023). Review of Cops, Teachers and Counselors, narratives on the front line of public services. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 38(111). https://doi.org/10.1590/3811016/2023
Lotta, G., & Costa, M. I. S. (2020). Uso de categorizações políticas e sociais na implementação de políticas: Contribuições teóricas e analíticas. Revista de Sociologia e Política, 28(76), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-987320287604
Malheiros, J., & Peixoto, J. (2023). Challenges and ambiguities of the policies for immigrants’ regularisation: The Portuguese case in context. In C. Finotelli & I. Ponzo (eds.), Migration control logics and strategies in Europe (pp. 111-129). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26002-5_6
Marrow, H. B. (2009). Immigrant bureaucratic incorporation: The dual roles of professional missions and government policies. American Sociological Review, 74(5), 756-776. https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240907400504
Maynard-Moody, S. W., & Musheno, M. C. (2003). Cops, Teachers, Counselors: Stories from the Front Lines of Public Service. University of Michigan Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11924
Maynard-Moody, S., & Musheno, M. (2012). Social equities and inequities in practice: Street-level workers as agents and pragmatists. Public Administration Review, 72(1), 16-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02633.x
McAreavey, R., & Argent, N. (2018). Migrant integration in rural New Immigration Destinations: An institutional and triangular perspective. Journal of Rural Studies, 64, 267-275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.08.001
Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B. (2013). Border as method, or, the multiplication of labour. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1131cvw
Møller, M. (2009). Solidarity and categorization: Solidarity perceptions and categorization practices among Danish social workers (Doctoral dissertation). Aarhus University, Aarhus.
Observatório das Migrações. (2026). População estrangeira residente em Portugal (2024): Implicações para a coesão territorial, políticas públicas e governação das migrações. Observatório das Migrações. https://om.aima.gov.pt/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/OM_Populacao_Estrangeira_2024FINAL.pdf
Pires, R. (2017). Sociologia do guichê e implementação de políticas públicas. Revista Brasileira de Informação Bibliográfica em Ciências Sociais – BIB, 81, 5-24.
Pires, R., & Lotta, G. (2019). Burocracia de nível de rua e (re)produção de desigualdades sociais: Comparando perspectivas de análise. In R. Pires (ed.), Implementando desigualdades: Reprodução de desigualdades na implementação de políticas públicas (pp. 127-152). IPEA.
Ratzmann, N., & Sahraoui, N. (2021). Conceptualising the role of deservingness in migrants’ access to social services. Social Policy and Society, 20(3), 440-451. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746421000117
Rodríguez-Pose, A. (2018). The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it). Cambridge Journal of Regions Economy and Society, 11, 189-209. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsx024
Sampedro, R., & Camarero, L. (2018). Foreign Immigrants in Depopulated Rural Areas: Local Social Services and the Construction of Welcoming Communities. Social Inclusion, 6(3), 337-346. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v6i3.1530
Schmidt, C., & Bhuyan, R. (2025). “It sounds like you don’t want to help me”: How everyday bordering in settlement services impacts immigrant women in Canada. International Migration & Integration, 26, 255-277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-024-01183-4
Schweitzer, R. (2020). How inclusive institutions enforce exclusive immigration rules: Mainstream public service provision and the implementation of a hostile environment for irregular migrants living in Britain. In S. Hinger & R. Schweitzer (eds.), Politics of (dis)integration (IMISCOE Research Series, pp. 129-150). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25089-8_7
Shields, J., Drolet, J., & Valenzuela, K. (2016). Immigration settlement and integration services and the role of nonprofit providers: A cross-national perspective on trends, issues and evidence (Working Paper No. 2016:1). Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement. https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/centre-for-immigration-and-settlement/tmcis/publications/workingpapers/2016-1-shields-drolet-valenzuela.pdf
Söhn, J. (2013). Unequal welcome and unequal life chances: How the state shapes integration opportunities of immigrants. European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie, 54(2), 295-326. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003975613000155
Sousa, C., Rodrigues, M., Figueiredo, L., & Gonçalves, G. (2020). Rural temporary migrant workers: adjustment and integration in Portugal. Psychological Thought, 13(1), 146-168. https://doi.org/10.37708/PSYCT.V13I1.403
Vandermeerschen, H., Mescoli, E., Lafleur, J.-M., & De Cuyper, P. (eds.). (2023). Newcomers navigating the welfare state: Experiences of immigrants and street-level bureaucrats with Belgium’s social assistance system. Leuven University Press. https://doi.org/10.11116/9789461665249
Yuval-Davis, N., Wemyss, G., & Cassidy, K. (2019). Bordering. John Wiley & Sons.
Zacka, B. (2017). When the state meets the street: Public service and moral agency. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674981423
Zhuang, Z. C. (2023). A place-based approach to understanding immigrant retention and integration in Canadian and American non-traditional gateway cities: A scoping literature review. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 24(6), 1029-1053. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-023-01052-6
Zoomers, A. (2023). Epilogue: Chicken or Egg? The Role of Newcomer Migrants in the Revitalization of “Left-Behind” Areas. International Migration & Integration, 24(5), 1001-1011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-023-01084-y
Published
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors of articles published in Migraciones retain the intellectual property rights over their works and grant the journal their distribution and public communication rights, consenting to their publication under a Creative Commons NonCommercial-NoDerivatives-Attribution 4.0 International License. Authors are encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (for example, on institutional or personal pages, repositories, etc.) respecting the conditions of this license and quoting appropriately the original source.
