Immigration enforcement, crime, and demography

Abstract

Research SummaryThis research leverages a remarkable natural experiment created by recent legislation in Arizona to study the impact of labor market immigration enforcement on crime. We show that Arizona's Mexican immigrant population decreased by as much as 20% in the wake of the passage of a broad‐based “E‐Verify” law requiring employers to verify the immigration status of new employees. In contrast to previous literature that studied traditional law enforcement‐based immigration enforcement programs such as “Secure Communities,” we find evidence that labor market‐based immigration enforcement led to a decline in some types of crime– particularly property crimes.Policy ImplicationsIt is critical to note that the crime reduction we observe is driven by an unprecedented decline in the share of the immigrant population that is young and male. As such, the effects are purely compositional, suggesting that young immigrant men are no more likely to commit crimes relative to young native men. Given that young immigrant men have high labor market participation and contribute disproportionately to economic output, this research highlights the promise, but also the potentially high costs, of labor market immigration enforcement.