New Destinations or Old Politics? Explaining Local Immigration Policing Practices in the United States

40 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2015

See all articles by Paul G. Lewis

Paul G. Lewis

Arizona State University

Monica Varsanyi

City University of New York

Doris Provine

Arizona State University (ASU) - School of Social Transformation

Scott Decker

Arizona State University (ASU)

Date Written: July 23, 2012

Abstract

Previous research suggests two factors that may help explain differences in local government policies directed toward immigrants: the anxieties of “new destinations” (areas that have experienced a rapid, recent rise in immigrant settlement), and the “old politics” of local partisanship and political pressure. In this paper, we examine a previously unexplored aspect of the local immigration policy dynamic: do “new destinations” or “old politics” help to explain why the practices of law-enforcement agencies regarding immigrants differ among communities? Using multivariate analyses of data from three nationwide surveys of county sheriffs and police chiefs in large and small cities in the United States, our findings provide stronger evidence for the political-pressure hypothesis, although with differences across the three sets of respondents.

Keywords: immigration, policing, new destinations, partisanship, devolution, enforcement

Suggested Citation

Lewis, Paul G. and Varsanyi, Monica and Provine, Doris and Decker, Scott, New Destinations or Old Politics? Explaining Local Immigration Policing Practices in the United States (July 23, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2676260 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2676260

Paul G. Lewis

Arizona State University ( email )

PO Box 873902
Tempe, AZ 85287-3902
United States

Monica Varsanyi (Contact Author)

City University of New York ( email )

695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
United States

Doris Provine

Arizona State University (ASU) - School of Social Transformation ( email )

Tempe, AZ
United States

Scott Decker

Arizona State University (ASU) ( email )

Farmer Building 440G PO Box 872011
Tempe, AZ 85287
United States

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