NEGOTIATING THE TERMS OF THE MIGRATION TRAJECTORY UNDER MIGRANT ‘ILLEGALITY’ - A case study of three unaccompanied Afghan minors’ journey from Afghanistan to Sweden

Abstract: This study seeks to answer the question of how some young male Afghan refugees, in their own views, negotiated their migration trajectories on their way to the country of asylum, despite the constraints of migrant ”illegality”? To answer this question a qualitative mix-method approach was adopted, comprised of Participatory Action Research and Life History, collecting data through semi-structured in-depth interviews. The interviews were held with three young Afghan males, who at the time of their trajectories were unaccompanied minors. In light of the analytical framework of migrant ‘illegality’, the migration trajectory and the migration industry as conceptualized by Nicholas De Genova, Felicitas Hillmann and Rúben Hernéndez-León, respectively, the findings were assessed. It was found that the terms of the migration trajectories were negotiated both by the individual migrant, the migrant group as well as by ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ actors of the migration industry. Furthermore, the terms of the migration trajectory is largely affected by migrant ‘illegality’ as strategies need to be adopted to circumvent and transcend its restrictive nature. However, this does not mean that the production of migrant ‘illegality’ effectively curtailed their trajectories. Moreover the findings indicate that there seemingly is a connection between the situations of ‘home’ on the one hand and the route, length and conditions of the trajectory on the other. The research is subsequently concluded by pointing to deeply problematic embedded practices residing within the politico-legal system of contemporary Europe.