Frontline Practices and Ambivalent Roles in the Reception and Integration of Immigrants in a Rural Area in Portugal

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.

Ambivalence · Bureaucracy · Citizenship · Immigration · Immigration policy · Politics · Precarity · Rural area · Scarcity · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Rural development and sustainability

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