Caught in the Carceral Web: Anti-Trafficking Laws and Policies and their Impact on Migrant Sex Workers

Abstract

This report examines the Canadian government’s repressive and carceral approach to human trafficking, which has created what the authors describe as an "endless web of criminality". This interlocking legal framework - consisting of federal criminal laws, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), provincial anti-trafficking strategies, and municipal bylaws - is built upon the deeply rooted assumptions that immigrant women are uniquely vulnerable and that the commercial sex industry is inseparable from trafficking. While ostensibly designed to protect workers, these policies utilize "crimmigration" to target migrant sex workers through aggressive surveillance, racial profiling, and the prohibition of migrants without permanent residence from working in any aspect of the sex industry.

The report's qualitative study and literature review demonstrate that this carceral web, despite its stated objectives, fails to protect victims. Instead, it exacerbates pre-existing social inequalities and increases the vulnerability of migrant sex workers to violence and exploitation. By driving the industry underground and creating a fear of "administrative" deportation without judicial oversight, the laws prevent workers from seeking health services or reporting crimes to the police for fear of detention. The findings challenge the state's paternalistic narrative, as many workers view sex work as an empowering economic choice within their lived constraints that offers better income and flexibility than other exploitative forms of precarious labor. Consequently, the authors recommend the full decriminalization of sex work, the repeal of immigration prohibitions, and the reallocation of law enforcement resources toward health, social, and legal support services.

Keywords: Anti-Trafficking, Sex Work, Mass Incarceration, Migrant Workers