Overview of: “The Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement on Crime and Disorder: A Case Study of Prince William County, Virginia”

Abstract

Research SummaryThis study evaluates a local immigration enforcement policy implemented in Prince William County, Virginia, in 2008. In addition to joining the federal 287(g) program, the County adopted a policy that initially required officers to check the immigration status of people they detained, but the policy was later amended to require immigration checks only for arrestees. Using a pre–post, quasi‐experimental design, we examined the policy's impacts on crime reports and calls for service in Prince William County and compared the County's crime trends with those of nearby localities. We also analyzed postpolicy trends in arrests of illegal immigrants, survey reports of crime victimization and reporting among County residents, and survey reports of police views on crime and disorder in the County. Although the policy did not affect most forms of crime in Prince William County (including robberies, property crimes, drug offenses, disorderly behaviors, and drunk driving violations), aggravated assaults declined 27% after the announcement of the original policy in July 2007. However, this initial version of the policy also seemed to harm police relations with the immigrant community, among other problems.Policy ImplicationsAs part of the wider debate on illegal immigration in the United States, local police are becoming more heavily involved in immigration enforcement in part as a result of a growing number of state laws and local ordinances directing police to engage in these efforts. The impacts of local immigration enforcement efforts have received very little study to date. Consistent with research on immigration and crime generally, this study suggests that public concern regarding crime by illegal immigrants is perhaps overstated and that expanded local immigration enforcement efforts will have limited impacts on crime. More aggressive immigration enforcement policies may reduce some types of crime, but they also may harm police relations with immigrant communities and impose other costs on local police. Further policy experimentation and research may help local communities to develop balanced approaches that focus on criminal violators and target specific crime problems in immigrant communities without the potentially negative consequences of more widespread crackdowns on illegal immigration.