ABSTRACT
In recent years, in the Maritime Alps (France), people claiming to act in solidarity with migrants have faced legal prosecutions and have collectively mobilized against the repression of solidarity practices. Building on the literature on legal mobilization within social movements, we ask in this chapter the following questions: How does judicial repression affect pre-existing migrant solidarity networks? To what extent do the prosecuted activists strategically use the trials for political effect? We identify successful consequences of activist mobilizations against immigration policies, whilst noting that the heavy toll of pursuing defenses against criminal prosecution can weaken individuals and force activist networks to adapt their strategies. Furthermore, we discuss how the focus on an undifferentiated notion of “solidarity” can unhelpfully mask gender, race, and class differences between defendants able to mobilize the notion of “solidarity crime” in their defense and in the media, and those whose social capital limits their access to those very solidarity networks.
