One of the first concept that is shown throughout the book is that of the Membership Theory, a theory which “limits individual rights and privileges to the members of a social contract between the government and the people” (Dowling & Inda,2013). The Membership theory lays out boundaries that keep those who aren’t socially accepted by their society on the outside. With the expanding demographics of those immigrants and that of ex-offenders, this theory denies them access to that of membership in society such as the right to vote or that of the right to remain within the United States (Dowling & Inda,2013).
In Governing Immigration through Crime- Chapter 2 The Crimmigration Crisis, Immigrants, Crime and Sovereign Power – the authors state that the connection between that of immigration and criminal law is rooted from the membership in the United States society and it shows the difference between insiders and outsiders (Dowling & Inda,2013). Something that was quite obvious in the town of Patchogue