“Who's breaking the law … not us, them!”: Inside immigration detention in Portugal

In this paper, we examine immigration detention in Portugal, a system whose daily operations and inherent violence are overlooked in both public and academic discourses. Even within community psychology, discussions on immigration detention have largely remained on the fringes of scholarly debates. Guided by a justice-centered ecological lens, we map the contours of daily life in detention by centering the intersectional struggles of detained cisgender and transgender women. These struggles illuminate the politics of power and resistance at play in these sites, contributing to interrelated ecologies of knowledge and advancing a critical understanding of the systems of power and oppression articulated around borders, citizenship, and the "making of migration." Our findings reveal Portuguese detention centers as uncaring environments where women feel constantly threatened, unsafe and disregarded, with their well-being severely compromised. Ignorance reigns in these sites, wielded as a form of power. Yet, despite this, detained women create counterspaces and cultivate ecologies of knowledge and resistance from the ground up. We conclude by reflecting on how community-engaged scholars and activists can contribute to transformative and liberatory efforts against carceral border systems, working toward futures of freedom, dignity, and justice for all.