Resumen
This contribution focuses on one of the five ‘hotspots’ in the Aegean islands, suggesting that approaches to encampment on the island of Samos are exemplary of the EU’s border regime. We analyse how (I) discourses of “care” have been crucial for the rhetorical legitimation of the construction of new and remote confinement sites, while (II) when implemented into practice, “care” was turned into a systematization of harmful uncare. We further argue that these practices do not meet the needs of those people crossing EU borders to seek safety and asylum, but in fact, in many cases, make them more vulnerable.