Impacts of Indiscriminate Immigration Enforcement on Non-Citizens and Citizens

Social science research has shown that immigrants, including those without legal status, commit violent crimes and property crimes at significantly lower rates than native-born Americans. Yet, over the last thirty years, significant federal resources have been devoted to systematically targeting “criminal aliens.” Today, the conflation of administrative immigration status with criminality has reached new levels, with heightened and more indiscriminate enforcement that disregards suspected criminal involvement. Political scientist Graeme Blair and legal scholar David Hausman will examine the impact of increased indiscriminate immigration enforcement on crime, policing, and the economic wellbeing of citizens and non-citizens in the U.S. They will analyze data from immigration enforcement agencies, the National Crime Victimization Survey, the American Community Survey and other sources for their study.