The purpose of this study is to decipher the means by which the identities of particular people, specifically unaccompanied and separated child asylum-seekers, are socially constructed as risk. Theorized here as "risk identity", this has occurred within a global context increasingly preoccupied with security. Racialized and imbued with ideological notions of citizenship, this preoccupation and the anxieties contained within it, are effectively yet unduly transferred onto individuals, who for a variety of reasons not innately related to security, are seen as undesirable. The "risk identity" classification becomes the means by Which their exclusion is legitimized and perpetuated. The increased movement of unaccompanied and separated children across international borders has occurred within this global context. Positioned largely in opposition to citizens of the industrialized west, unaccompanied and separated children seeking asylum in Canada are constructed as risk in myriad ways. Based on 13 interviews, 9 with stakeholders and 4 with youth, this study highlights four interconnected categories of risk, which serve to construct unaccompanied and separated minors as risk. These are anti-refugee discourse, anti-youth discourse, as it relates to juvenile justice discourse, prejudicial attitudes and the fear of difference, and securitization discourse.

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