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Forced Migration and Humanitarian Action: 

Operational Challenges and Solutions for Supporting People on the Move

By Guadagno, Lorenzo (editor), Robles, Lisette R. (editor)

Forced population movements are a defining feature of almost any humanitarian crisis, shaping the design, targeting, and delivery of emergency responses. This book investigates how the evolving situation of different forced migrants is accounted for and addressed in humanitarian action in order to improve their access to support and assistance. Bringing together case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific, this book focuses on a diversity of operational modalities and types of assistance provided by both traditional and non-traditional humanitarian actors to address the specific needs of displaced children, women, people with disabilities and older people, as well as trafficked migrant workers. This book adopts a broad perspective on humanitarian action, acknowledging how its boundaries are challenged and expanded in forced migration contexts. Its operational and theoretical insights will be useful for a range of readers, from humanitarian and migration researchers and students to practitioners and policymakers.

London: Routledge, 2026. 

21st Century Slavery:  

The Various Forms of Human Enslavement in Today's World

By Usha Iyer-Raniga (Editor), Oluwatoyin Olatundun Ilesanmi (Editor)

More than 46 million people are currently victims of 21st-century slavery globally, most of whom are women and children. This book, 21st Century Slavery - The Various Forms of Human Enslavement in Today’s World provides a comprehensive overview of modern-day slavery, also known as contemporary slavery, neo-slavery, institutional slavery, and numerous other terms. It includes eight chapters that highlight human trafficking and explain and explore the act of recruiting, harbouring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled labour or commercial sex acts using force, fraud, or coercion. The book discusses the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, and receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labour or sexual exploitation. It concludes that the world must not accept slavery in the 21st century. This volume is a useful resource on modern slavery for all academics interested in humanitarian and development studies across the globe and to all policymakers and governments of nations who are pushing for the elimination of all forms of slavery in their nationhood.

The Politics of Us and Them – The Migration Politics Nexus:

Comparative-Historical Analysis of Canada, France, and Germany

By Friederike Alm

Canada, France, and Germany share many similarities, for example, their democratic principles and constitutional commitment to human rights and equal opportunities. However, each country approaches immigration differently. Friederike Alm presents a comparative-historical analysis which sheds light on the historical trajectory of migration politics in the three countries since 1945. The author proposes a new concept for migration research, the migration politics nexus, which highlights the interconnection between immigration, citizenship, and integration politics.

Leverkusen Germany: Verlag Barbara Budrich, 2025. 

Strategies Against Human Trafficking: The Role of the Security Sector

By Cornelius Friesendorf (Ed.)

In 2000, the international community adopted the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. Since then, 124 countries have ratified the Protocol, and many of these have adopted legal instruments to help them in the fight against trafficking. Yet the scourge persists. Millions of people worldwide—men, women and children—continue to be exploited for their labour, for sexual purposes, for their organs. Security sector personnel are well-placed to assist in the fight against human trafficking: by identifying victims; investigating networks; disrupting operations; and prosecuting traffickers. Moreover, trafficking, like many crimes, flourishes where the rule of law is weak, such as in post-conflict situations. Restoring security based on the rule of law can reduce vulnerability to human trafficking and other types of organised crime. Strategies Against Human Trafficking: The Role of the Security Sector provides practical guidance on how practitioners in the security sector can take measures against modern-day slavery. Two points stand out. First, policy and intervention depend on evidence. Thus far, the fight against human trafficking has been handicapped by a lack of data. UNODC is working with governments and social scientists to fill this void. In 2009 we published the first Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. But the picture remains impressionistic. Security sector professionals can provide the information needed to profile victims and identify traffickers. The second major point highlighted in this study is the need for cooperation. This fight is a shared responsibility. It requires inter-agency cooperation among law enforcement personnel as well as trans-national cooperation. It also depends on effective joint work among a wide range of stakeholders, including criminal justice experts, the private sector, civil society, and concerned citizens. Disjointed efforts—however well-meaning—will have little impact on sophisticated criminal networks. This publication offers strong recommendations on how to make cooperation work. 

Vienna and Geneva, National Defence Academy and Austrian Ministry of Defence and Sports Rossauer Lände 1, 1090 Wien in co-operation with Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces September 2009. 514p.   

Not One More: Findings and Recommendations of the Not Invisible Act Commission

By The Not Invisible Act Commission

There is a crisis in Tribal communities. A crisis of violence, a crisis of abuse, and a crisis of abject neglect affecting Indian Women & Men, Indian Children, and Indian Elders. The federal government must act now; not tomorrow; not next week; not next month; and not next year. Once and for all, the federal government must end its systematic failure to address this crisis and react, redress, and resolve this. We call on the federal government to declare a Decade of Action & Healing to address the crisis of missing, murdered, and trafficked Indian people. -- The Not Invisible Act Commissioners _____________________________________________________________________________ With each passing day, more and more American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons are victimized due to inadequate prevention and response to the MMIP and HT crisis. Our recommendations encompass actions that must be undertaken without delay to provide AI/AN people and communities with the same sense of safety and security that other communities in the United States take for granted. The United States government’s failure to fulfill its trust responsibilities to Tribal nations, coupled with historic policies that sought to disconnect AI/AN people from their land, language, and culture, have given rise to a public health, public safety, and justice crisis in Tribal communities. The crisis is most notably reflected in the federal government’s failure to effectively prevent and respond to the violence against AI/AN people, particularly in the context of missing, murdered, and trafficked AI/AN people. Despite the best efforts of many individuals across law enforcement (LE), the judiciary, and social services, long-standing institutional failures must be acknowledged and addressed. Calls for action and funding to address these issues have been made repeatedly.1 Although there has been a growing awareness of the high rates of missing, murdered, and trafficked AI/AN people in recent years, and several federal initiatives have been launched,2 addressing the needs in Tribal communities continues to generally be underprioritized by the federal government. Until this changes, violence against AI/AN individuals and on Indian and Alaska Village lands will persist. The Commission believes that the circumstances that have created the crisis of MMIP and HT are not intractable. In fact, to see them so is to continue the unjust past. With resolve and an appropriate investment of resources, these issues can, and must, be effectively addressed. While it is imperative that the federal government take immediate and concerted action, thescale and severity of this issue, and the need for long-term healing and justice, also demand a comprehensive and sustained response. Therefore, we call upon the federal government to declare a Decade of Action and Healing dedicated to addressing this crisis effectively for future generations. Such a declaration would underscore the urgency of the matter and signify a long-term commitment to combatting the deeply rooted issues that perpetuate continued violence against AI/AN individuals and supporting individuals and communities in their healing as they seek justice. This Decade of Action and Healing must involve partnership with Tribal communities, Tribal governments, and relevant organizations, focusing on improving safety, prevention, justice, support services, and healing for AI/AN communities through increased funding, policy reform, action-oriented programs, and training and technical assistance.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice, 2025. 212p.

Are Trump Judges Different? Evidence from Immigration Cases

By Daniel M. Klerman

Judges appointed by President Trump are more likely to vote in favor of the government in cases challenging the second Trump administration's immigration policies. While Trump's Supreme Court nominees behave like other Republican nominees on the Court, Trump's lower court nominees are twice as likely to vote in favor of the government as nominees of other Republican presidents; in contrast, other Republican nominees to the lower courts are statistically indistinguishable from Democratic nominees. The difference between Trump nominees and other judges is driven almost entirely by judges 55 years old or younger, who may be influenced by the prospect of promotion to the Supreme Court.

 USC CLASS Research Paper No. 2522, 2025, 

The Roberts Court’s Unprecedented Abuse of Precedent – And How It Is Destroying the Judiciary’s Role in the System of Checks-and-Balances

By Bruce Ackerman

From the days of the Federalist Papers and Marbury v. Madison, the Court’s commitment to reasoned elaboration of constitutional principle has served as the justification for its role in the system of checks-and-balances. Yet the very foundations of judicial legitimacy are at stake in two cases that the Roberts Court has scheduled for expedited consideration during the early months of its 2025-26 Term. These cases deal with the continuing legitimacy of Humphrey’s Executor’s unanimous decision upholding the constitutionality of “independent agencies” – most notably, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission. This prospect has provoked a great deal of scholarly debate over the implications of relatively recent decisions by the Roberts Court on these issues. In contrast, my essay puts these decisions in a larger framework – emphasizing the crucial role played by the President and Congress in constructing “independent agencies” during the half-century preceding Humphrey’s unanimous decision upholding their constitutionality in 1935. It demonstrates that, after the breakthrough creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission by the Cleveland Administration, every President – from Theodore Roosevelt through Woodrow Wilson through Herbert Hoover – gained Congressional support for the creation of new independent agencies self-consciously organized to restrict presidential power in order to assure the deployment of impartial and expert regulation over crucial areas of socio-economic life. Justice Sutherland’s unanimous opinion of 1935 represents the self-conscious recognition of the legitimacy of this bipartisan affirmation of the role of expertise in modern government – and should not be cast aside without a principled confrontation with its historical foundations in American constitutional development.

Yale Law School, Public Law Research Paper, 2025

Ransomware HR: Human Resources Practices and Organizational Support in the Conti Ransomware Group

By James Martin , Chad Whelan , and David Brigh
Ransomware is widely regarded as one of the most economically damaging cybercrimes. Existing criminological research has focused largely on the structure, routines, and activities of ransomware groups, or traced financial transactions to advance understanding of their associated harms. This paper explores how the Conti ransomware group employed human resources (HR)practices and other organizational supports to recruit, retain, and motivate its employees. Data is drawn from a leaked dataset containing tens of thousands of messages between employees and affiliates of Conti. We analyze this dataset through the lens of organizational support theory(OST), one of the most influential theories in the field of organization and management psychology. Our analysis shows that Conti employed a variety of HR practices to improve worker satisfaction and commitment, many of which are supported by OST research. By better understanding these practices, we aim to provide a novel, theoretically informed perspective through which the operations of ransomware groups can be better understood. The paper concludes with a discussion of how this knowledge can be used to inform the development of law enforcement strategies intended to disrupt ransomware groups

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR 2025, VOL. 46, NO. 9, 1088–1103

The impact of cyber-crime and violent extremism on socio-economic development in Nigeria

By Chukwudi Kingsley Onyeachu, Ikechukwu Clement Okoro & Martina Mgbosolu Ugwuoke 

Cybercrime and violent extremism have not only become mutually reinforcing, in recent times, but also fast growing, multidimensional and easily joined by the youth for lack of socio-economic opportunities to break out of poverty and overcome family and peer pressures. Research findings have proven that to ‘get-rich-quick’ through cyber-criminalities influences performance of human blood and body parts rituals, which translates to violent extremism. The youth who make money through these inhuman practices that negate acceptable societal values believe that education, apprenticeship, human capital development and decent work are a dysfunctional social-orientation. Careful observations have shown that when the youth acquire illicit money, the result is excessive clubbing, frivolous spending, promotion of prostitution, substance abuse, which undermine effective youth engagement in socio-economic development. The youth bulge theory was adopted in the study. The theory postulates that large youth population can become a “demographic dividend” when their potentials are properly harnessed, and it can also become a “demographic bomb” in the face of systemic socio-economic exclusion, unemployment, hunger and family poverty. The methodology applied was content analysis, leveraging empirical studies in Nigerian context and other sources of data. The paper revealed that youth unemployment, systemic corruption, absence of transparency in the administration of poverty alleviation interventions and limited opportunities are manifestations of youth exclusion from decision-making process and they are key factors influencing youth participation in cybercrime and violent extremism. The paper recommended practical youth-specific engagement strategies in socio-economic development as a means to discouraging cybercrime and its associated extreme practices.

Discov glob soc 3, 72 (2025)

Gross Human Rights Violations in Washington State: Enforced Disappearance and Refoulement

By The Center for Human Rights, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington,

This report reviews local involvement in gross human rights abuses against immigrants, focusing on forced disappearance and refoulement. Its findings reveal that the connections between Washington state and these crimes are broader and deeper than has been previously known.

They are broader because there are many more cases of Washingtonians being subjected to forced disappearance at the hands of the U.S. federal government than was previously known. Thus far we have documented:[1]

  • seven migrant Washingtonians who were expelled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison CECOT, in violation of a federal court order;[2]

  • six Washingtonians who were sent by ICE to Guantánamo Bay without access to counsel or information to their families;[3]

  • one Washingtonian who was expelled by ICE to South Sudan, where he had no personal ties, following attempts to remove him in violation of a federal court order;[4]

  • two families who were held incommunicado in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities for weeks within our own state;

  • and a very broad—so broad as to be unmeasurable under current conditions—universe of migrants who are being deported daily without access to any real form of due process, under conditions which may constitute refoulement.

And they are deeper because many more of our institutions, public and private, are involved in facilitating the forced disappearances of our neighbors than was previously known. These include:

  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and King County International Airport (Boeing Field), both of which provide the infrastructure through which deportations happen daily;

  • Washington State’s Department of Corrections, which collaborates with ICE in the detention of migrants completing a prison sentence;

  • Signature Aviation, a private company providing fuel and support to private charter flights operating for ICE at King County International Airport;

  • and the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB), which invests the retirement funds of our public employees in the very businesses that brutalize our neighbors.

Complicity in forced disappearance is not a minor matter. When committed systematically against a civilian population, forced disappearance is considered a crime against humanity under international law. All institutions—federal, state and local; public and private—and all individuals are called to take active measures to avoid complicity in the networks that produce such violations. Our central purpose in publishing this report is to make all Washingtonians witness to what is happening on our watch, in the hopes that we might come together in new ways to stop these abuses.

Seattle:  Center for Human Rights, The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington,, 2025. 

Improving The Collection Of National Administrative Data On Femicide In The EU

By The European Institute for Gender Equality

EIGE’s research on femicide has focused on the definition and measurement of femicide as a specific crime, due to the gendered nature of the killings and dynamics of power imbalance between women and men.

EIGE supports Member States in collecting administrative data on femicides within the context of intimate-partner relationships, domestic relationships or any relationships. 

This policy brief presents the data on femicide from the latest EU-wide collection of national administrative data on intimate partner violence and domestic violence.

The brief maps MS’ progress in data collection on femicide in the period between 2014 to 2022 and their ability to disaggregate the data by sex and relationship type between victim and perpetrator. 

The policy brief highlights several findings: women are disproportionately affected by intimate partner homicide, in which women represent 87 % of all victims and 60 % of victims in domestic homicides versus 42 % of all homicide victims. 

It further encourages MS to establish common legal definition of femicide and collect data disaggregated by sex and relationship and advocates for an expanded collection of data related to the context and circumstances of the killing to support improved understanding of femicide and enable improvements in development and use of risk assessment tools. 

2025. 9p.

A Family Affair Ongoing allegations of deforestation, corruption and human rights violations in Indonesia’s palm oil industry

By Kaoem Telapak and Environmental Investigation Agency UK 

Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, a substance used in thousands of everyday items including food stuffs, cleaning products, shampoo and as a biofuel. 

Indonesian exports of palm oil and related products were worth almost $28 billion in 2024. The Fangiono family, through various family members, is linked to a multitude of palm oil companies in Indonesia. This report outlines the most urgent and ongoing alleged violations by these companies, as of 2025. The companies featured have been accused of deforestation, landgrabs, corruption, operating without proper permits and conflicts with local and indigenous people, with evidence suggesting these are continuing and even expanding issues. Cases studies span Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua – regions which not only represent different ecological zones but also host distinct indigenous populations and present different legal and political challenges. The family is led by its patriarch – known by his first name, Martias – who was convicted in 2007 of obtaining palm oil permits through bribery and corruption. He was fined more than $38 million and jailed for one-and-a-half years. Today, the Fangiono family operates several major corporate groups, including First Resources, FAP Agri and Ciliandry Anky Abadi, with Martias’ relatives having key positions in these groups. However, there have been numerous reports by NGOs over the years exposing the opaque corporate layers of the family’s companies and alleging control of a network of shadow companies accused of dubious practices, such as deforestation and violating communities’ rights. Such charges have been largely denied by First Resources and FAP Agri, both of which have sustainability policies. But some prominent brands, including Unilever and PepsiCo, are reported to have suspended sourcing palm oil from them due to such allegations. In this report, Kaoem Telapak (KT) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) outline how the number of companies linked to the family continues to grow and present ongoing allegations of illegal activities, human rights violations and environmental destruction connected with them, while asking how they can continue to act with impunity. 

London: EIA, 2025. 44p.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS: The Principle and the Practice

Edited by Stephen Pierce Duggan. Introduction by Graeme R. Newman

A Landmark Vision of International Order at the Dawn of the Modern World

Published in 1919 at the very moment when the post–First World War settlement was taking shape, The League of Nations: The Principle and the Practice, edited by Stephen Pierce Duggan, is one of the most authoritative and illuminating contemporary statements of the ideas that sought to prevent another global catastrophe. Written as the Covenant of the League of Nations moved toward ratification, this volume captures the urgency, optimism, and hard-headed realism of thinkers grappling with the central political question of the twentieth century: how can peace be made durable in a world of sovereign states?

Bringing together leading scholars, jurists, historians, and policy practitioners, the book moves beyond slogans to examine how an international organization must actually function. It explains not only the moral and historical foundations of the League idea, but also its practical machinery—arbitration, sanctions, international administration, and continuous cooperation across borders. Readers are guided through the institutional logic of collective security, the limits of national sovereignty, and the challenges posed by armaments, small nations, and postwar reconstruction.

Distinctive for its clarity and documentary richness, the volume includes key historical texts and the full Covenant of the League itself, allowing readers to engage directly with the constitutional framework of early international governance. Written in accessible but rigorous prose, it was intended for educated citizens as well as specialists—an informed guide for public debate at a decisive historical moment.

Today, The League of Nations: The Principle and the Practice stands as an indispensable primary source for understanding the intellectual foundations of modern global governance. It reveals how the ambitions and anxieties of 1919 shaped later institutions, including the United Nations, and it remains strikingly relevant in an era once again marked by questions of collective security, international law, and global cooperation. For historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and readers interested in the origins of the contemporary international order, this book is both a historical document and a continuing challenge to think seriously about how peace is organized.

The Atlantic Monthly Press. BOSTON. 1919. Read-Me.Org Inc. New York-Philadelphia-Australia. 2025. p.253.

Pregnancy Panopticon: Abortion Surveillance After Roe

By Albert Fox Cahn, ESQ. and Eleni Manis, PHD, MPA

Abortion rights will soon be a thing of the past for millions of Americans. At the time of publication, a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion shows a majority of justices are poised to strike down Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and any federal constitutional right to abortion. But repealing a half century of reproductive rights won’t transport Americans back to 1973, it will take us to a far darker future, one where antiquated abortion laws are enforced with cutting edge technology. Sweeping abortion laws are already on the books in many states, primed to go into effect the moment the Supreme Court’s decision is published. But those sprawling bans won’t enforce themselves. Police, prosecutors, and private anti-abortion litigants will weaponize existing American surveillance infrastructure to target pregnant people and use their health data against them in a court of law. This isn’t speculation—it’s already happening. Abortion opponents surveil pregnant people and abortion providers to chill their reproductive freedoms.1 Hospitals track pregnant patients with suspicionless drug testing, 2 while police harness surveillance to enforce existing abortion laws. Nearly every aspect of pregnant peoples’ online lives is already targeted—including search histories, online purchases, and messages—while cellphone location data is used to track their movements in physical space. 3 If this is the state of surveillance today, in an America with abortion rights, what surveillance will we see in a post-Roe future?

Banned For Being: Moderating Online Games' Public Sphere

By Eleni Manis, Evan Enzer, Derek Smith, Leticia Murillo, Anna Sipek, Sarah Roth, Brittan Heller

Online gamers aren’t just playing games: they’re joining lively public forums that reflect offline civil society with both its good and its evils.

  • Game companies moderate content to promote civility in these forums, but they frequently make bad calls against historically marginalized gamers. These gamers get “banned for being” when they assert their identities and “banned for responding” when they reply to harassment by standing up for themselves.

  • Games can begin to combat repeated bad calls against historically marginalized gamers—which amount to structural discrimination in online games—by offering robust notice and appeals systems.

  • But to build truly inclusive public forums, games must also change the rules of moderation. Games must consider gamers’ words in context to avoid penalizing historically marginalized gamers for asserting their identities or for responding to hate. They must carefully limit any rules against political and controversial speech to avoid forcing historically marginalized gamers off of gaming platforms.

Game Over: The Unintended Consequences of Video Game Censorship

By Albert Fox Cahn and Evan Enzer

Video games aren’t merely a toy anymore. Instead, they represent one of the fastest growing segments of the global internet ecosystem, garnering rapidly expanding user engagement and investment. Yet as video game platforms have evolved from the standalone cabinets and consoles of the late 20th century into a vibrant and interconnected social network, gaming has been plagued by many of the same speech moderation questions that have confronted Meta, Twitter, TikTok, and other social media platforms. Video game platforms aren’t just a place to shoot virtual enemies and fly simulated spaceships, they are also a place for users to engage in a wide array of political, religious, and other constitutionally protected activities.

How Labour Migration Affects Countries of Origin 

By Steven Blackman

Migrants contribute about 10 % to the world's gross domestic product and are likely to gain in importance due to skills shortages and an ageing population in host countries. Labour migration also has a significant impact on the countries of origin, both positive and negative. The overall impact of migrant workers on their countries of origin varies depending on the circumstances. In 2022, there were 167.7 million migrant workers globally, 93 % of whom were employed. Some 90 % of migrants move voluntarily, mostly for economic reasons. Remittances sent by migrants have become an important source of income for their countries of origin, reaching about US$656 billion in 2023. Additionally, diasporas can serve as a means for countries of origin to exercise more influence beyond their borders. These countries can also reap the benefits of the skills and knowledge acquired by returning migrants. Some countries, such as India and the Philippines, have policies in place to maximise the possible benefits. On the other hand, the exodus of migrant workers can exacerbate skills shortages in their home countries, particularly in smaller ones. In addition, migrant workers may encounter substandard working conditions and lower wages compared to local workers.

  Brussels; EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service, 2025. 10p.  

Guidelines for Prosecutors on Digital Evidence Collection in Compliance with International Standards on Freedom of Expression and Privacy

By Sabin Ouellet, Simon Clements

Guidelines for prosecutors on digital evidence collection emphasize balancing law enforcement needs with international standards on freedom of expression and privacy. They provide practical tools like case studies, checklists, and guidance on preserving evidence and maintaining its integrity. Key principles include adhering to legality and due process, properly documenting the collection process, and protecting the rights of all individuals involved. 

UNESCO, International Association of Prosecutors; 2025 18p.

Immigrants Commit Crimes at Lower Rates

Far-right politicians and their allies are making two dishonest claims about the connection between immigration and crime. First, they’re claiming there is currently a wave of violent crime in the United States. This is false. In fiscal year (FY) 2023, violent crime fell near its lowest rate in 50 years. Second, they are claiming that undocumented immigrants are the cause of this violent crime wave. This too is false and easily debunked by the data.

Research by the American Immigration Council looked at FBI data over a 23-year period and found that immigrants are less likely to commit violent crimes than native-born Americans. Not only are immigrants less likely to commit violent crimes, but higher rates of immigration are associated with decreases in both violent and property crime in communities. Put differently, where there are more immigrants, there is less crime.

In FY 2023, a record 2.3 million immigrants were encountered at our southern border. If right-wing accusations were correct, we would expect that with record levels of immigration, we would also see record levels of violent crime, especially in border states. Yet in 2023, Texas saw a 15% drop in violent crime and Arizona saw an 8.8% drop. In a year with more migrants arriving than ever before, border states are reporting precipitous drops in crime rates.
Another study using arrest data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, an agency headed by a Republican appointee, compared the criminality of undocumented migrants, legal migrants, and native-born Americans between 2012 and 2018. Of the three groups, undocumented migrants had the lowest rates of committing crimes. This finding entirely refutes the right-wing argument that migrants are the source of a crime wave in American communities.

Washington, DC: Third Way, 2025. 4p.

Sanctuary Isn’t What You Think

By Sarah Pierce

The White House has painted so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions as lawless safe havens that “harbor criminals” and “block” federal enforcement. The reality is far different. In fact, no state or city stands in the way of federal immigration of cers doing their jobs. Instead, local law enforcement agencies make careful choices about how and when they aid federal immigration enforcement—balancing the demands of limited resources, public trust, and local priorities. Even those that affirmatively call themselves “sanctuary” jurisdictions participate in federal immigration enforcement in meaningful ways. For example, every jurisdiction shares data with the FBI that gets run through ICE and informs the agency of unauthorized or potentially removable immigrants in custody. But the Trump administration’s aggressive focus on ensuring local participation in federal immigration enforcement begs the question of how far Washington can go to force local police to serve as a national force—and what such a power grab risks. In this paper, we explain the different ways states and localities tailor their participation in federal immigration enforcement, including highlighting the ongoing participation of several of the administration’s most vili ed, so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions. We also explain why some jurisdictions limit or tailor their enforcement more than others and what local public safety measures may be lost as a result of the administration’s hyper xation on hitting numerical deportation quotas. 

Washington, DC: Third Way, 2025. 11p, October 10, 2024