By Emily Ryo

US immigration enforcement policy seeks to change the behaviors and views of not only individuals in the United States but also those of prospective migrants outside the United States. Yet we still know relatively little about the behavioral and attitudinal effects of US enforcement policy on the population abroad. Thisstudy uses a randomized experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey that was administered in El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico to analyze the effects of USdeterrence policies on individuals migration intentions and their attitudes toward the US immigration system. The two policies that the current study examines are immigration detention and nonju-dicial removals. The survey results provide no evidence that a heightened awareness of these US immigration enforcement pol-icies affects individuals intentions to migrate to the United States.But heightened awareness about the widespread use of immigra-tion detention in the United States does negatively impact indi-viduals’assessments about the procedural and outcome fairness of the US immigration system. These findings suggest that immi-gration detention may foster delegitimating beliefs about the USlegal system without producing the intended deterrent 

PNAS, Vol. 118, no. 21, 2021. 7p.

By Nicola Delvino and Markus González Beilfuss

In both the United States and Spain, Latino migrants are disproportionately exposed to crime victimization. Among them, those with irregular status are scared to report crime to the police out of the fear of deportation. This article explores how national legislation and local policies in the United States and Spain regulate the possibility of irregular migrants who are victims of crime to interact with the police. We analyze the interplay between immigration and criminal legislation and enforcement structures in the United States and Spain to define whether deportation is a real or perceived risk for victims reporting crime. We identify opportunities for “safe reporting of crime,” and we look at how policy responses in the two countries compare. We find that national legislation in both countries introduced measures aimed at allowing safe interactions between migrant victims and the police. Additionally, in the United States, cities also adopted local “safe reporting” policies. However, despite these existing measures, opportunities for safe reporting remain limited in both countries. We conclude with a discussion on lessons that legislators in the United States and Spain could learn from each other to improve the reporting of crime from victims with irregular status. 

  American Behavioral Scientist  2021, Vol. 65(9) 1193–1205  

By James Feigenbaum, Jesse Baker and Austin Brooksby  

  This paper provides a macroeconomic perspective on the costs and benefits of two very different immigration policy changes—mass deportation and legalization—in comparison to the status quo of allowing illegal immigrants to broadly remain in the country under precarious circumstances. A macroeconomic analysis can capture the economy-wide impact of immigration policies on wages, employment, the government budget, and the stock of productive capital. To provide intuition, the paper begins with a simple analysis before adding layers of complexity that capture how immigration affects the economy. Although the results are sensitive to the assumptions used in the analysis, we find that over a broad range of parameters mass deportation creates worse economic outcomes for US citizens relative to both the status quo and to a policy providing for legalization.  

Logan, UT: The Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University, 2020. 18p.

By Jorgen M. Harris and Rhiannon Jerch  

  This paper estimates the effect of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a temporary legalization policy, on the incomes and asset ownership of Salvadoran recipients over 20 years. We compare likely undocumented Salvadoran immigrants eligible for TPS to a control group of likely undocumented immigrants ineligible for TPS in a flexible event study design that allows us to observe growth dynamics in the policy’s effect over two decades. We find that earnings, homeownership, and the likelihood of using a car increased considerably for Salvadoran adults for at least 15 years following the granting of TPS. Our study suggests that even temporary and limited legal status can have substantial and sustained economic benefits for recipients.  

 Logan, UT: The Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University , 2023.   54p.

By A. S. M. Shakil Haider

  In the United States, immigration policies are politically debated when the concern is about the effect of such policies on crime and labor market outcomes. Even though the concern for crime exists for a long time, such concern is intensified due to rise in crime and the contagious behavior of crime in United Sates. Therefore, the primary objective of this dissertation is to investigate the causal effect of different immigration policies on crime and labor market outcomes in the context of United States. In addition, contagious behavior of crime along with the effects of different socio-economic and socio-demographic factors on crime are also examined in the context of US by allowing for county-level spatial dependence. The first chapter investigates statistically, the sanctuary policy (implemented on different US counties) effect on broad categories (i.e., violent and non-violent crime) and subcategories (i.e., murder, rape, burglary, motor vehicle (MV) theft) of crime from the lens of different causal methods. The analysis is conducted considering US county-level panel data and by applying different variations of difference in differences (DID) and synthetic control methods. A further analysis of sanctuary policy effects on crime is conducted by applying both the methods in a staggered treatment adoption setting. The results found that, even though there are few significant rises in crime categories due to sanctuary policy implementation, most of the results indicate that there is no evidence of statistically significant effect of sanctuary policy on different crime categories.....

  Chapter two of the dissertation focuses on the contagious/spilling behavior of crime along with investigating the linkages in between violent and non-violent crime in United States. methods. The key findings suggest positive causal effect of DACA on DACA-eligible individual’s labor market outcomes where DACA-ineligibles face bigger detrimental effects on their labor market outcomes due to DACA induced labor supply shock.   

Lubbock: Texas Tech University, 2021. 191p.

By Brandyn F. Churchill, Andrew Dickinson,  and Joseph J. Sabia 

E-Verify laws, which have been adopted by 23 states, require employers to verify whether new employees are eligible to legally work prior to employment. This study explores the impact of state E-Verify laws on crime. Using data from the 2004–2015 National Incident Based Reporting System, the authors find that the enactment of E-Verify is associated with a 7% reduction in property crime incidents involving Hispanic arrestees. This finding was strongest for universal E-Verify mandates that extend to private employers and its external validity bolstered by evidence from the Uniform Crime Reports. Supplemental analyses from the Current Population Survey suggest two mechanisms to explain this result: E-Verify-induced increases in the employment of low-skilled natives of Hispanic descent and out-migration of younger Hispanics. Findings show no evidence that arrests were displaced to nearby jurisdictions without E-Verify or that violent crime or arrests of African Americans were affected by E-Verify laws. The magnitudes of the estimates suggest that E-Verify laws averted $491 million in property crime costs to the United States.

   IZA Discussion Papers, No. 12798. Bonn: Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) , 2019. 69p.

By Damien Spry

This book is about the current state of human rights and the advocacy campaigns to end various abuses to these rights. It challenges views that give authority exclusively to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and reductionist views that take the subsequently framed body of international human rights law as sacrosanct suggesting this this is an incomplete and therefore insufficient view of human rights; that the struggle for human rights exists in historical, political and cultural contexts that may variously challenge or lend support to perspectives on human rights. The author presents three accounts to argue the case: a brief historical overview of human rights; a close reading of a key human rights organisation; and accounts from a recent human rights campaign in Australia. These examples suggest that smaller, nimbler campaign organisations, focused on concrete human rights outcomes, can strategically and successfully employ discourses that are designed to fit with the local political and cultural settings.

Broadway: UTS ePRESS, 2008. 60p.

Edited by Monika Heupel, Caiden Heaphy, and Janina Heaphy

This book examines why the United States has introduced safeguards that are designed to prevent their counterterrorism policies from causing harm to non-US citizens beyond US territory. It investigates what made US policymakers take steps to "put the gloves back on" through five case studies on the emergence of such safeguards related to the right not to be tortured, the right not to be arbitrarily detained, the right to life (in connection with targeted killing operations), the right to seek asylum (in connection with refugee resettlement), and the right to privacy (in connection with foreign mass surveillance). The book exposes two mechanisms – coercion and strategic learning – which explain why the United States has introduced what the authors refer to as "extraterritorial human rights safeguards", thus demonstrating that the emerging norm that states have human rights obligations towards foreigners beyond their borders constrains policy choices. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of human rights, counterterrorism, US foreign policy, human rights law, and more broadly to political science and international relations.

London; New York: Routledge, 2022. 252p.

By Maja Łysienia

Since 2009 two courts have been shaping human rights of asylum seekers in Europe: the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Side by side, the courts examined who is protected from refoulement, when and how asylum seekers can be detained and what remedies they should have access to. Did they seek convergence in their asylum case-law or paid no attention to each other’s jurisprudence? Did they establish a coherent standard of the asylum seekers’ protection in Europe? Judicial dialogue between the ECtHR and CJEU in the area of asylum is at the heart of this study. The book offers also a comprehensive overview of the asylum case-law of the two courts and identifies the main convergences and divergences in their approach to protection against refoulement, immigration detention and effective remedies.

Zurich: sui generis Verlag, 2022. 604p.

By Annika Lindberg

Deportation limbo traces the efforts of two Nordic welfare states, Denmark and Sweden, to address the so-called implementation gap in deportation enforcement. It offers an original, empirically grounded account of how often-futile, injurious policy measures devoted to pressuring non-deported people to leave are implemented and contested in practice. In doing so, it presents a critique of the widespread, normalised use of detention, encampment, and destitution, which routinely fail to enhance deportations while exposing deportable people to conditions that cause their premature death. The book takes the ‘deportation limbo’ as a starting point for exploring the violent nature of borders, the racial boundaries of welfare states, and the limits of state control over cross-border mobility. Building on unprecedented access to detention and deportation camps and migration offices in both countries, it presents ethnographic material capturing frontline officials’ tension-ridden efforts to regulate non-deported people using forced deportation, incarceration, encampment, and destitution. Using a continuum of state violence as the analytical lens, the book offers a uniquely comprehensive account of how the borders of Nordic welfare states are drawn through practices that subject racialised ‘others’ to expulsion, incarceration, and destitution. The book is the first to systematically document the renewed deportation turn in Denmark and Sweden, and to critically examine its implications: for the people targeted by intensified deportation measures, and for the individual officials, institutions, and societies enforcing them. It offers an important, critical contribution to current debates on the violence of deportation regimes, the politico-bureaucratic structures and practices that sustain them, and their human costs.

Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2023. 205p.

By Linda Leung, Cath Finney Lamb and Liz Emrys

An investigation into the use of information communication technologies by refugees during flight, displacement and in settlement, this book examines the impact of Australia’s official policy of mandatory detention on how asylum seekers and refugees maintain links to diasporas and networks of support. Given the restricted contact with the world outside of the immigration detention centre, the book juxtaposes forms and processes of technology-mediated communication between institutionalised detention, with those of displacement and settlement. It finds that while there are obstacles to communication in situations of conflict and dislocation, asylum seekers and refugees are able to ‘make do’ with the technology options available to them in ways which were less constrained than in detention settings. The book also outlines how communication practices during the settlement process focus on learning new technologies, and repairing the disconnections with family members resulting from separation and detention.

Broadway: UTS ePRESS, 2009. 54p.

Edited by Soumita Basu, Paul Kirby and Laura J. Shepherd

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, associated with the United Nations Security Council resolutions of a similar name, is widely recognized as the most significant and wide- reaching global framework for advancing gender equality in military affairs, conflict resolution and security governance. The first of these resolutions, UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325, bound the international community to ensure, among other provisions, greater participation of women in decision making in national, regional and international institutions; their further involvement in peacekeeping, field operations, mission consultation and peace negotiations; increased funds and other support to the gender work of UN entities; enhanced state commitments to the human rights of women and girls and the protection of those rights under international law; the introduction of special measures against sexual violence in armed conflict; and due consideration to the experiences and needs of women and girls in humanitarian, refugee, disarmament and postconflict settings."

Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2022. 28p.

Edited by Jeremiah O. Asaka and Alice A. Oluoko-Odingo

This book investigates contemporary human security issues in East Africa, setting forth policy recommendations and a research agenda for future studies. Human security takes a people-centered rather than state-centered approach to security issues, focusing on whether people feel safe, free from fear, want and indignity. This book investigates human security in East Africa, encompassing issues as diverse as migration, housing, climate change, displacement, food security, aflatoxins, land rights, and peace and conflict resolution. In particular, the book showcases innovative original research from African scholars based on the continent and abroad, and together the contributors provide policy recommendations and set forth a human security research agenda for East Africa, which encompasses Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. As well as being useful for policy makers and practitioners, this book will interest researchers across African Studies, Security Studies, Environmental Studies, Political Science, Global Governance, International Relations, and Human Geography.

London; New York: Routledge, 2022. 255p.

Edited by Ravi K. Thiara, Stephanie A. Condon and Monika Schröttle

This book draws together both: theory and practice on minority/migrant women and gendered violence. The interplay of gender, ethnicity, religion, class, generation and sexuality in shaping the lives, experiences and choices of minority/migrant women affected by violence has not always been adequately theorised within much of the existing writing on violence against women. Feminist theory, especially the insights provided by the concept of intersectionality, are central to the editors’ conceptual frameworks.

Leverkusen-Opladen,Verlag Barbara Budrich,  2011. 426p.

Edited by Anthony Tirado Chase, Pardis Mahdavi, Hussein Banai and Sofia Gruskin 

At a time when states are increasingly hostile to the international rights regime, human rights activists have turned to non-state and sub-state actors to begin the implementation of human rights law. This complicates the conventional analysis of relationships between local actors, global norms, and cosmopolitanism. The contributions in this open access collection examine the “lived realities of human rights” and critically engage with debates on gender, sexuality, localism and cosmopolitanism, weaving insights from multiple disciplines into a broader call for interdisciplinary scholarship informed by practice. Overall, the contributors argue that the power of human rights depends on their ability to be continuously broadened and re-imagined in locales around the world. It is only on this basis that human rights can remain relevant and be effectively used to push local, national and international institutions to put in place structural reforms that advance equity and pluralism in these perilous times. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.

London; New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. 288[/p.

By Denise Brennan

Life Interrupted introduces us to survivors of human trafficking who are struggling to get by and make homes for themselves in the United States. Having spent nearly a decade following the lives of formerly trafficked men and women, Denise Brennan recounts in close detail their flight from their abusers and their courageous efforts to rebuild their lives. At once scholarly and accessible, her book links these firsthand accounts to global economic inequities and under-regulated and unprotected workplaces that routinely exploit migrant laborers in the United States. Brennan contends that today's punitive immigration policies undermine efforts to fight trafficking. While many believe trafficking happens only in the sex trade, Brennan shows that across low-wage labor sectors—in fields, in factories, and on construction sites—widespread exploitation can lead to and conceal forced labor. Life Interrupted is a riveting account of life in and after trafficking and a forceful call for meaningful immigration and labor reform.All royalties from this book will be donated to the nonprofit Survivor Leadership Training Fund administered through the Freedom Network.

Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014. 302p.

By Maureen Meyer and Adam Isaacson

In particular, we analyze how the National Guard deployment has driven migrants to travel through more remote areas where they are more likely to fall prey to criminal groups, and how smugglers are adapting to this new shift. The report further examines how this crackdown has overwhelmed migrant detention centers, heightened concerns of inadequate screening of potential asylum seekers, and resulted in a rapid increase in asylum requests in Mexico. Finally, the report examines how U.S. assistance has supported Mexico’s migration enforcement and border security efforts along its southern border. The report’s final section provides recommendations on how the Mexican government can work to ensure the safety and well-being of migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, and root out any corruption and abuse linked to security forces and migration agents who interact with these vulnerable populations. It also provides recommendations on how the U.S. government can support these efforts, while upholding its own national and international commitments to asylum seekers.   

Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America, 2019. 56p.

By  Parveen Parmar , Madeline Ross , Sophie Terp , Naomi Kear, Briah Fischer  Molly Grassini , Sameer Ahmed. Niels Frenzen , and Elizabeth Burner   

Climate change, poverty, and violence increasingly drive migration to the United States. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detain some individuals while awaiting determination of immigration status or potential deportation. Over the last two decades, more than 200 individuals died in ICE detention. In this study, we aim to identify systemic issues related to deaths of individuals in ICE detention to potentially mitigate further harm. Methods: The ICE Office of Detention Oversight conducts investigations after each death in detention, producing a report called a “Detainee Death Review”. To identify systemic issues in these deaths, we used thematic analysis to review 55 Detainee Death Reviews available between 2011 and 2018. Findings: We identified 3 major themes of pervasive issues—Detainee Not Patient, System Over Patient, and Grossly Substandard Care— and 11 subthemes. Subthemes of culture of shortcuts, delays in care, and poor care delivered were present in the vast majority of cases. Subthemes biasand discrimination, language injustice, falsification of and inconsistencies between records and reports, willful indifference, security over health, communication breakdown, inadequate resources, failure of protective mechanisms, missing/ignoring red flags, and failure of emergency response were also prominent. Interpretation: This study identified underlying systems issues within the medical care provided in ICE detention. While there are issues with language services, discrimination, and inadequate response to medical emergencies, the greatest issue is the lack of independent, external review. Greater transparency is required, so that adherence to basic standards of care for individuals in ICE detention can be better evaluated.

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, 2:2021

By Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Mary J. Lopez

The increase in immigration enforcement during the past two decades has led to a larger number of immigrants being detained in the U.S. criminal justice system. Using data from the 2006–2018 Annual Survey of Jails, we examine the impact of immigrants being held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the conditions in U.S. jails. We find that increases in the number of detainees held for ICE are related to higher noncitizen jailed populations that are not offset by reductions in their citizen counterparts, likely contributing to worse confinement conditions. This is reflected in the higher levels of overcrowding and understaffing, as well as in the longer stays in jail and more physical assaults associated with a larger number of ICE detainees. These findings prove robust to using data on two local interior immigration enforcement programs responsible for the growing number of immigrant detainees in local jails—287(g) agreements and Secure Communities—as instruments to address the endogeneity of the number of ICE detainees with respect to jail conditions. The results are driven by slightly over half of U.S. counties located either along the United States– Mexico border or in states with a large or fast-growing immigrant population. 

Criminology & Public Policy 202022022:21:433-460

By Emily Ryo

During the summer of 2018, the US government detained thousands of migrant parents and their separated children pursuant to its zero-tolerance policy at the United States–Mexico border. The ensuing media storm generated unprecedented public awareness about immigration detention. The recency of this public attention belies a long-standing immigration enforcement practice that has generated a growing body of research in the past couple of decades. I take stock of this research, focusing on the causes, conditions, and consequences of immigration detention in the United States. I also discuss critical tasks for future research, including (a) examining the role of local governments, the private prison industry, and decision makers responsible for release decisions in maintaining the detention system; (b) extending the field of inquiry to less-visible detainee populations and detention facility guards and staff, for a fuller understanding of detention conditions; and (c) investigating not only direct but also indirect consequences of detention.

Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 15;97-115, 2019.