Underworld : the immigrant crime link in Canadian society

Using a first person narrative and drawing on existing materials, my MRP seeks to extend the literature on the immigrant crime link in Canadian society. I argue that over time a growing immigrant population has threatened the homogeneity of dominant society and their monopolization of economic and political power. As a result, those with power have used the processes of racialization and criminalization to restrict, control and socially exclude immigrants from integrating into Canadian society. My MRP suggests that this social exclusion has led some immigrants to find socio-political and economic autonomy in the informal markets of the sex and drug trades. Using a case study approach I explore the Junction community over time and space to reveal the root cause of immigrant crime. My findings reveal that immigrant crime is not isolated to consensus ideologies of social disorganization, rather my research illustrates that macro-systemic barriers impede immigrants from successful integration into Canadian society. This, I argue, pushes some immigrants to participate in the precarious employment of the underground economy where they continue to face victimization, abuse and increased risk of contact with the criminal justice system.