Behind the white mask

Abstract This chapter analyzes the politicization of migrant illegality in Belgium, tracing how restrictive policy frameworks and shifting migration regimes have shaped the precarious position of the sans-papiers. It situates the contemporary sans-papiers movement’s struggle within a broader history of labor migration, asylum policy, and regularization campaigns. The chapter highlights the emergence of sans-papiers mobilization in the late 1990s, notably through church occupations following the death of Semira Adamu. It demonstrates how subsequent waves of occupations, supplemented by manifestations orchestrated by well-established civil society organizations, forced the Belgian government to organize two collective regularization rounds in 1999 and 2009. However, dissent emerged between CSOs, which criticized radical tactics like hunger strikes, and undocumented migrants, who questioned concessions made about regularization criteria. Undocumented migrants increasingly voiced concerns over the fact that political representation was done “for” or “in the name of” undocumented immigrants instead of “by” the sans-papiers themselves. This chapter thus shows how hermeneutic conflicts about representation between privileged and underprivileged subjects spurred calls for more autonomy within the sans-papiers movement.