IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/23-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Federal-Local Partnerships on Immigration Law Enforcement: Are the Policies Effective in Reducing Violent Victimization?

Author

Listed:
  • Eric P. Baumer
  • Min Xie

Abstract

Our understanding of how immigration enforcement impacts crime has been informed by data from the police crime statistics. This study complements existing research by using longitudinal multilevel data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for 2005-2014 to simultaneously assess the impact of the three predominant immigration policies that have been implemented in local communities. The results indicate that the activation of Secure Communities and 287(g) task force agreements significantly increased violent victimization risk among Latinos, whereas they showed no evident impact on victimization risk among non-Latino Whites and Blacks. The activation of 287(g) jail enforcement agreements and anti-detainer policies had no significant impact on violent victimization risk during the period.Contrary to their stated purpose of enhancing public safety, our results show that the Secure Communities program and 287(g) task force agreements did not reduce crime, but instead eroded security in American communities by increasing the likelihood that Latinos experienced violent victimization. These results support the Federal government’s ending of 287(g) task force agreements and its more recent move to end the Secure Communities program. Additionally, the results of our study add to the evidence challenging claims that anti-detainer policies pose a threat to violence risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric P. Baumer & Min Xie, 2023. "Federal-Local Partnerships on Immigration Law Enforcement: Are the Policies Effective in Reducing Violent Victimization?," Working Papers 23-18, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2023/adrm/ces/CES-WP-23-18.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brian Bell & Anna Bindler & Stephen Machin, 2018. "Crime Scars: Recessions and the Making of Career Criminals," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(3), pages 392-404, July.
    2. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2014. "On the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Enhanced U.S. Border and Interior Immigration Enforcement: Evidence From Mexican Deportees," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2255-2279, December.
    3. Dale T. Manning & Jesse Burkhardt, 2022. "The local effects of federal law enforcement policies: Evidence from sanctuary jurisdictions and crime," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 423-438, July.
    4. Steven D. Levitt, 2002. "Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effects of Police on Crime: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 1244-1250, September.
    5. Lisa Marie Pierotte & Min Xie & Eric Baumer, 2018. "Recent Shifts in the Volume, Nature, and Scope of State Immigration Policies in the United States," Migration Letters, Migration Letters, vol. 15(2), pages 266-283, April.
    6. Delgado, Michael S. & Florax, Raymond J.G.M., 2015. "Difference-in-differences techniques for spatial data: Local autocorrelation and spatial interaction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 123-126.
    7. Mello, Steven, 2019. "More COPS, less crime," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 174-200.
    8. repec:mpr:mprres:3427 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Margot Moinester, 2018. "Beyond the Border and Into the Heartland: Spatial Patterning of U.S. Immigration Detention," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(3), pages 1147-1193, June.
    10. Emilio A. Parrado, 2012. "Immigration Enforcement Policies, the Economic Recession, and the Size of Local Mexican Immigrant Populations," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 641(1), pages 16-37, May.
    11. Aaron Chalfin & Justin McCrary, 2018. "Are U.S. Cities Underpoliced? Theory and Evidence," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(1), pages 167-186, March.
    12. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    13. Thomas J. Miles & Adam B. Cox, 2014. "Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(4), pages 937-973.
    14. Songman Kang & B K Song, 2022. "Did Secure Communities Lead to Safer Communities? Immigration Enforcement, Crime Deterrence, and Geographical Externalities," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 345-385.
    15. repec:mpr:mprres:4780 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. repec:mpr:mprres:4937 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Kawika Pierson & Michael L Hand & Fred Thompson, 2015. "The Government Finance Database: A Common Resource for Quantitative Research in Public Financial Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, June.
    18. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Pozo, Susan, 2014. "On the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Enhanced Border and Interior Immigration Enforcement: Evidence from Deportees," IZA Discussion Papers 8458, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Muchow, Ashley N. & Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina, 2020. "Immigration enforcement awareness and community engagement with police: Evidence from domestic violence calls in Los Angeles," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    2. Cho, Sungwoo & Gonçalves, Felipe & Weisburst, Emily, 2021. "Do Police Make Too Many Arrests? The Effect of Enforcement Pullbacks on Crime," IZA Discussion Papers 14907, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Desmond Ang, 2021. "The Effects of Police Violence on Inner-City Students," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(1), pages 115-168.
    4. Kim, Eon & Bowers, Kate & Birks, Dan & Johnson, Shane D., 2024. "Size isn't everything: Understanding the relationship between police workforce and crime problems," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. LeRoy, William, 2024. "Understanding policing in the aftermath of gun violence: Examining investigatory stops and crime in Chicago," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    6. Lovett, Nicholas & Xue, Yuhan, 2022. "Rare homicides, criminal behavior, and the returns to police labor," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 172-195.
    7. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Thitima Puttitanun, 2018. "Undocumented youth in limbo: the impact of America’s immigration enforcement policy on juvenile deportations," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 597-626, April.
    8. Johnston, David & Khalil, Umair & Lee, Wang-Sheng & Ray, Arijit, 2025. "Religiosity and crime: Evidence from a city-wide shock," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    9. Elisa Facchetti, 2025. "Police infrastructure, police performance, and crime: evidence from austerity cuts," IFS Working Papers W24/16, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Fabbri, Marco & Klick, Jonathan, 2021. "The ineffectiveness of ‘observe and report’ patrols on crime," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    11. Kyle Butts, 2021. "Difference-in-Differences Estimation with Spatial Spillovers," Papers 2105.03737, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    12. Juan Manuel Pedroza, 2022. "Housing Instability in an Era of Mass Deportations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(6), pages 2645-2681, December.
    13. Roxana Gutierrez-Romero & Nayeli Salgado, 2022. "New trends in South-South migration: The economic impact of COVID-19 and immigration enforcement," Working Papers 108, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    14. Martínez Flores, Fernanda, 2018. "The deterrence effect of immigration enforcement in transit countries: Evidence from Central American deportees," Ruhr Economic Papers 749, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    15. Catalina Amuedo‐Dorantes & Mary J. Lopez, 2017. "The Hidden Educational Costs of Intensified Immigration Enforcement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(1), pages 120-154, July.
    16. Chunbei Wang, 2019. "Tightened Immigration Policies and the Self‐Employment Dynamics of Mexican Immigrants," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 944-977, September.
    17. Kayaoglu, Aysegul, 2022. "Do refugees cause crime?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Garrett Anstreicher & Jason Fletcher & Owen Thompson, 2022. "The Long Run Impacts of Court-Ordered Desegregation," NBER Working Papers 29926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Evans, William N. & Kotowski, Maciej H., 2024. "The demand for protection and the persistently high rates of gun violence among young black males," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    20. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Mary Lopez, 2021. "Recent changes in immigration policy and U.S. naturalization patterns," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 843-872, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:23-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.