Navigating the margins of intermediations: Infra-political intermediaries in the process of asylum determination for legal protection in Italy

This study questions the prevailing focus on formal professionals within the State apparatus as the primary legal intermediaries in asylum and migration contexts. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with refugees in Venice and its peripheries, Genoa, and Ventimiglia, we explore how migrant communities and their supporters navigate and overturn initial denials of legal protection. Our findings reveal the emergence of infra-political intermediaries: individuals employing subtle forms of support to disrupt denials and shape narratives of legal deservingness. In an asylum determination system characterized by systematic denial to those coming from so- called «safe» countries of origin, these intermediaries create pathways to transform asylum seekers from perceived «undeserving» to «deserving» protection seekers. Beyond the immediate bureaucratic encounters, our emphasis is on the processes of intermediation both preceding and subsequent those moments. Ultimately, this paper argues for expanding the analytical category of legal intermediaries to include those operating below the radar and relying on unconventional resources in asylum determination procedures.