Policing immigrants : local law enforcement on the front lines / Doris Marie Provine, Monica W. Varsanyi, Paul G. Lewis, and Scott H. Decker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Provine, Doris Marie, author.

Varsanyi, Monica, 1971- author.

Lewis, Paul George, 1966- author.

Decker, Scott H., author.

Series:

Chicago series in law and society

The Chicago series in law and society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Immigration enforcement--United States.

Immigration enforcement.

Central-local government relations.

United States.

United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy.

Emigration and immigration.

Government policy.

Central-local government relations--United States.

Emigration and immigration law--United States.

Emigration and immigration law.

Emigration and immigration--Government policy.

Physical Description:

ix, 206 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2016.

Summary:

The United States deported nearly two million illegal immigrants during the first five years of the Obama presidency-more than during any previous administration. Deportation numbers, however, have actually been on the rise since 1996, when two federal statutes sought to delegate a portion of the responsibilities for immigration enforcement to local authorities. Policing Immigrants traces the transition of immigration enforcement from a traditionally federal power exercised primarily near the US borders to a patchwork system of local policing that extends throughout the country's interior. Since federal authorities set local law enforcement to the task of bringing suspected illegal immigrants to the federal government's attention, local responses have varied. While some localities have resisted the work, others have aggressively sought out unauthorized immigrants, often seeking to further their own objectives by putting their own stamp on immigration policing. Tellingly, how a community responds can best be predicted, not by conditions like crime rates or the state of the local economy, but rather by the level of conservatism among local voters. What has resulted, the authors argue, is a system that is neither just nor effective-one that threatens the core crime-fighting mission of policing by promoting racial profiling, creating fear in immigrant communities, and undermining the critical community-based function of local policing. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introducing the conflicted politics of localized immigration control

The evolution of devolution

The problematic patchwork of immigration federalism

Going their own way: community context and its influences on the patchwork

Discretion on the front lines: immigrant policing in action

Negotiated understandings between law enforcement and local communities

Conclusions and recommendations: finding the way forward.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226363042

022636304X

9780226363189

022636318X

OCLC:

920017559