Italian comics artist Elena Mistrello was turned away at Toulouse-Blagnac airport on November 21, 2025, and returned to Milan on the next available flight after French border authorities classified her as a “grave threat to public order” under Schengen security protocols.
The expulsion has been linked to Mistrello’s documented antifascist activism, specifically her participation in a 2023 Paris memorial commemorating the tenth anniversary of Clément Méric’s death—a young activist killed by far-right skinheads in 2013. Her body of work includes content addressing Palestinian solidarity, migration, exploitation, and resistance.
Mistrello had arrived to attend the Colomiers International Comics Festival, where she was scheduled to promote the French edition of her graphic novel Syndrome Italie, co-created with writer Tiziana Francesca Vaccaro. The work examines the physical and psychological illnesses affecting Eastern European undocumented caregivers in Italy.
Upon deplaning, three officers from the Police aux Frontières (PAF) intercepted Mistrello and escorted her to a secure holding area for interrogation. The officers cited a Schengen Information System (SIS) alert flagged by France’s DGSI (General Directorate for Internal Security) and the DLPAJ (Directorate of Public Liberties and Legal Affairs), generated through passenger data from API-PNR files. No detailed explanation was provided for the alert.
Mistrello was presented with two options: board an immediate return flight to Italy or face detention in a Centre de Rétention Administrative (CRA), France’s administrative holding facility for migrants. She selected the return flight and received the official repatriation order while airborne.
In a statement to Politis, Mistrello stated, “I’ve never had the slightest problem with the justice system. This feels like a pretext based on opinions and associations, not facts.” She emphasized that she holds no criminal record and received no prior warning of restrictions before her expulsion.
The Colomiers festival and Mistrello’s French publisher Presque Lune Éditions issued statements of solidarity immediately following the incident. The Syndicat National des Auteurs et Compositeurs (SNAC) released an open letter to Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau demanding an investigation into the “dysfunctions” and calling for protections safeguarding artists’ mobility across borders. BubbleBD and media outlets including La Dépêche characterized the action as censorship.
Toulouse councilor François Piquemal criticized the enforcement, stating that “far-right guests get the red carpet, but antifascists get the boot.”
Mistrello plans to challenge the entry ban in court, seeking access to her SIS file and exploring grounds for appeal through the European Court of Human Rights.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
