Policing immigrants or policing immigration? Understanding local law enforcement participation in immigration control

Abstract

As the United States has expanded its immigration control strategies, police participation in immigration enforcement has increased in scope and intensity. Local law enforcement agencies contribute to immigration enforcement in three key ways: through the direct enforcement of immigration law, through cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and through the everyday policing of immigrant communities. These enforcement approaches have consequences for unauthorized immigrants, and for the agencies and officers tasked with providing them police services. This article reviews local law enforcement practices and argues that future research should move away from an exclusive examination of police policies towards immigrants, to consider how the policing of immigrants actually occurs on the ground. Moreover, we argue that as long as discretionary arrests funnel removable immigrants into the deportation system, some immigrant communities will perceive policing as fundamentally unfair and discriminatory.

The expansion of “crimmigration,” mass detention, and deportation

“…First, more behaviors have been categorized as criminal offenses for immigrants, but not for non‐immigrants, ultimately leading to immigrants' surveillance, apprehension, detention, and deportation (Abrego et al, ; Kubrin et al, ; Provine, Varsanyi, Lewis, & Decker, ). Second, the expansion of immigration enforcement has involved local jurisdictions, thus, federal immigration law is also enforced at the local level through criminal justice agencies (Aranda & Vaquera, ; Armenta & Alvarez, ; Dowling & Inda, ; Kubrin et al, ; Menjívar, ). And third, detention and deportation affect immigrants who have committed crimes, but also those suspected of committing a crime or threatening the nation, creating a system of mass surveillance and deportation (Bosworth & Guild, ; Melossi, ; Silverman & Molnar, ).…”

“…The apprehension, detention, and deportation of Latinos is facilitated by the local enforcement of immigration law (Aranda & Vaquera, 2015;Armenta, 2017;Armenta & Alvarez, 2017;Provine & Doty, 2011). As Armenta (2017) notes in her study of policing practices in Tennessee, officers use colorblind frames to justify the hyper-policing of Latino drivers but associate Latino identity with not having driver's licenses and therefore illegality (Armenta, 2017).…”

Intersectional Stigma and Multi-Level Barriers to HIV Testing Among Foreign-Born Black Men From the Caribbean

“…Tanya Golash-Boza (76), whose research focuses on Caribbean populations, found that 10% of deportees in the US were Jamaican, who make up only 2% of legal permanent residents. Police cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in non-sanctuary cities under President Trump's administration has fostered ambivalence and mistrust of the police in Black immigrant communities (77)(78)(79)(80). There is evidence that some migrants underutilized HIV testing resources because of misconceptions about immigration laws and that seeking care or a positive test could result in deportation (81,82).…”

Selection in Border Areas: Profiling Immigrants or Crimmigrants?

“…Jiang and Erez () argue that due to association between crime and migration the classic perception has shifted to immigrants. Law enforcement officers would be increasingly policing and profiling immigrants (Armenta ; Armenta and Alvarez ).…”