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IMMIGRATION, CRIME, & JUSTICE Historical and Contemporary Context

Varying Perspectives

Empirical Evidence

Policy Implications

OVERVIEW

• Historical and contemporary context

• Changing U.S. demographics

• Influence of economic factors

• Varying perspectives regarding the immigration-crime relationship

• Immigration increases crime versus immigration decreases crime

• Empirical research

• Micro-level studies; Macro-level studies

• Policy implications in CJS

• Pros and cons of local enforcement of federal immigration policies

• Considering the impact of media portrayals of immigrants

HISTORICAL & CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT

• Criminalization of immigrants common throughout U.S. history

• Immigrants targeted for social control most when:

• Immigration is high in volume; economic conditions are poor/more competitive

• United States is becoming more ethnically and racially diverse (see 2020 Census)

• Driven to a large extent by immigration; particularly from Latin America and Asia

• 2018 = roughly 44.8 million immigrants in the U.S. (13.7% of total population)

• Over half of foreign born in U.S. were Latinx; 25% from Mexico

• Nearly half of all Latinx immigrants live in 10 metropolitan areas; populations have increased throughout the country

• Among new arrivals, Asians outnumber Hispanics

• 23% of foreign-born are unauthorized (roughly 10.5 million in 2017)

• Renewed focus on link between immigration and crime

• Economic recession; political rhetoric; increased law enforcement involvement; etc.

• Empirical evidence does not match the rhetoric – “the immigrant paradox”

Chouhy & Madero-Hernandez, 2019; Pew, 2020

SOME CHARTS

Pew, 2020

IMMIGRATION AND CRIME

• THEORIES ON THE

IMMIGRANT-

CRIME NEXUS

• EMPIRICAL DATA

POSITIVE IMMIGRATION-CRIME RELATIONSHIP • Demographic transition and population instability

• Compositional argument

• Immigration increases the proportion of the population with a “crime-prone” demographic profile (i.e., young,

unmarried, males)

• Contextual argument

• Immigration creates population turnover and instability which lead to more crime

• Labor market structure and economic deprivation

• Immigration increases the population with low education, marginal labor market skills, and poor

employment prospects

• New immigrants likely to settle in economically disadvantaged areas with limited upward mobility

• Illegal drug market participation

• Stereotype of immigrant drug traffickers (not supported by empirical evidence)

• Structural disadvantage, exposure to illicit drug economy, and demographics create opportunity

Ousey & Kubrin, 2009

“Positive” relationship = more

immigration, more crime

NEGATIVE IMMIGRATION-CRIME RELATIONSHIP

• Immigration selection effects

• Immigrants are not a random cross-section of the sending population

• Tend to have relatively high levels of achievement ambition and low criminal propensity

• Some immigrant groups arrive with higher education than average native-born Americans

• Formal social control

• Because of stereotypes and public concerns, jurisdictions that experience increases in immigration may

increase expenditures for police/formal social control

• Increased formal social control may reduce crime overall

• Social capital and family structure

• Immigration may increase neighborhood social capital and informal social control

• Ethnic enclaves

• Immigrant revitalization thesis

• Immigration alters aggregate family and household structures in ways that foster informal social control and

impede crime

Ousey & Kubrin, 2009

“Negative” relationship = more

immigration, less crime

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE – MICRO-LEVEL RESEARCH

• A substantial body of research compares the criminal propensity of immigrants to native

born populations

• Despite relatively high levels of disadvantage, immigrants as a whole exhibit lower levels of crime,

arrest, and violence

• Risk of offending is higher among children of immigrants

• Third generation immigrants more than twice as likely as first generation to perpetrate violence (Sampson et al., 2005)

• Second (60% more likely) and third (88% more likely) generation immigrant youth more likely to

engage in violent delinquency than first generation immigrants (Bui & Thongniramol, 2005)

• Explanations?

• Later generations more affected by experiences of discrimination and marginalization

• Assimilation erodes the cultural influences that serve as protective factors

• Neighborhood context matters – the “segmented assimilation thesis”

Chouhy & Madero-Hernandez, 2019; Sampson et al., 2005

GENERATIONAL PATTERNS OF OFFENDING

• Data depicted here demonstrate

trajectories of delinquency

• Foreign-born individuals

demonstrate less involvement in

offending over the life course

• Second generation immigrants

appear to have “caught up” to

native-born youth

Adapted from The Sentencing Project, 2017

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE – MACRO-LEVEL RESEARCH

• Criminological theories assume high rates of immigration may increase crime rates

• Contemporary empirical evidence does not support this idea

• Cities with largest increases in immigration have experienced significant decreases in violent

crime (Wadsworth, 2010)

• Percentage of recent immigrants negatively correlated with homicide rates (Martinez et al., 2008)

• Immigration increases at the census tract (neighborhood proxy) level also associated with

reduction of violent crime (Ousey & Kubrin, 2009)

• Recent meta-analysis synthesizing data from 51 existing studies found a significant (but small)

negative effect of immigration on crime rates (Ousey & Kubrin, 2018)

• Conclusion: rate of immigration has essentially no impact on rates of crime across macro-social units

• Immigrant revitalization thesis

• Influx of immigrants into disadvantage neighborhoods reduces overall rates of violent crime

Chouhy & Madero-Hernandez, 2019; Ousey & Kubrin, 2018

IMMIGRATION AND VIOLENT CRIME

• Chart depicts rates of violent

crime and immigration in the U.S.

• While immigration, both

authorized and unauthorized,

increased throughout the

observation period, rates of

violent crime decreased

Adapted from The Sentencing Project, 2017

CONTEMPORARY IMMIGRATION

ISSUES

• IMMIGRATION

AND POLICING

• SANCTUARY

POLICIES

• MEDIA

PORTRAYALS OF

IMMIGRANTS

IMMIGRATION AND POLICING

• Complicated history between immigrants and the police – renewed controversy

• Changes since 9/11 – homeland security concerns impact immigrant communities

• Immigration enforcement is the responsibility of the federal government

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE);

and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

• Being in the country without authorization is not a criminal offense

• Increasing role of state and local law enforcement

• The 287(g) program creates collaborations between state and local LE and the federal

government to enforce federal immigration laws

• Opponents argue that program erodes police-community relations in immigrant communities

• Arizona SB 1070 and other similar legislation

• Contributes to racial profiling of Latinos; allowed to indefinitely hold suspects if believe

undocumented

Decker et al., 2009; Wong et al., 2020

IMMIGRATION AND POLICING (CONT’D)

• Involvement of local law enforcement in federal immigration enforcement is controversial

• Central issue in debates about “sanctuary cities”

• Argument for – doing the work of federal immigration enforcement is necessary to ensuring public safety –

doing so will reduce crime

• Pros: reducing local jail pops; deterrent effects; counterterrorism tool; provides access to data/resources

• Support for this position related to economic anxiety; anxiety about demographic changes; partisan political ideology

• Argument against – partnerships blur lines b/w police and immigration officials leading to fear and distrust of

local law enforcement; less willingness to report victimization or cooperate with police investigations –

partnerships related to increased crime rates

• Cons: reduced trust and cooperation; increased victimization; police misconduct; expensive; civil liberty concerns; spillover effect

to other municipal agencies/services

• Existing empirical research finds little support for link between sanctuary cities and crime; support for negative

impact of partnerships on trust and willingness to report/cooperate with police investigations

• A “spillover effect” where legal Latinx immigrants and even U.S.-born Latinx attitudes may be impacted

Khasha, 2009; Menjivar et al., 2018; Wong et al., 2020

POLICING IMMIGRATION STATUS

• Chart depicts percentage of

responding police agencies that

typically check immigration status

in various contexts

• Data indicate higher prevalence

when individuals arrested or

detained

Adapted from Khashu, 2009

MEDIA PORTRAYALS

• One factor that may contribute to the perception of immigrants as “crime-prone” or

contributing to crime rates is media portrayals

• How news agencies narratively describe or “frame” stories involving immigration and crime contributes to

misperceptions about immigrant criminality

• Harris and colleagues have conducted several studies of this issue

• One-third of local news stories describe immigration as crime-increasing; articles that link immigration to

crime feature more prominently (Tuttle & Harris, 2019)

• Most immigration-crime news stories describe immigrants as especially crime-prone or as increasing

aggregate crime rates; this framing has increased over time (Harris & Gruenewald, 2020)

• Coverage of immigration and crime varies based on community violent crime rates; minority population

size and growth; and religious and political conservatism (Harris et al., 2020)

• Community affluence and minority population growth related to framing linking immigration to crime rates

• Does what media you consume impact your views on immigration?

Harris et al., 2020; Harris & Gruenewald, 2020; Tuttle & Harris, 2019

POLICY IMPLICATIONS

• Little empirical evidence that immigrants are more “crime-prone” than native

citizens or that rates of immigration increase crime rates

• High rate of immigration can serve as a protective factor against crime

• Blocking immigration opportunities = increased crime?

• The increasingly punitive approach to immigration is unlikely to produce the

desired results

• Decreased legitimacy and erosion of informal social control

• Second and third generation children of immigrants at increased risk for

criminality

• Policies that promote educational and economic opportunities for children of immigrants

may be more effective

SUMMARY

• The relationship between immigration, crime, and criminal justice is controversial

• Especially in the context of continual debate about immigration reform and political rhetoric

• Theories posit both positive and negative relationships between immigration and crime

• Empirical research reveals an “immigrant paradox”

• Despite experiencing potentially criminogenic conditions (e.g., poverty, residential mobility),

immigrants are no more “crime-prone” than native born populations

• Involvement in crime increases in second and third generations

• Macro-level research reveals a slight protective effect of immigration on crime rates

• Ongoing debate surrounding local enforcement of federal immigration policies

• This is especially relevant for local law enforcement and police-community relations