Deep in the mountains, a vast white expanse spreads out like a lake over 62 hectares. Upon closer inspection, you spot rows of small rectangles, surrounded by fencing and barbed wire. These are prefabricated shelters. Two children play by pulling a plastic crate tied to a rope. Adults wander between the blocks and join a line. They return with a pack of water. Police officers on patrol can be seen in the background. From inside the camp, located in the central-eastern part of the Greek island of Samos, nothing else is visible. Only those with authorization may enter. That does not include the press. Yet this is a site designed as a model for migration management in Europe.

The "controlled and closed access" center in Samos opened in September 2021. On this Aegean island of 33,000 residents, close to the Turkish coast, more than 3,000 people were being held at the end of April, mostly Afghans and Syrians, over a third of whom were children. The situation foreshadows what the European Union (EU) aims to generalize at its external borders with the migration and asylum pact adopted in May 2024. People arriving on the continent are confined in these centers while their asylum applications are examined. Only recognized refugees are admitted; others are sent back. The approach replaces the "hotspot" model, while still adhering to its logic of sorting and containing migration flows.

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