Anti-immigrant laws and policies and police mistrust.

Disclaimer: #SorryWeffer for the back to back blogs.
This month marks the 5^th year anniversary of SB1070 and communities in Arizona continuing to resist against draconian immigration laws. From being part of these immigrant communities, I have first-hand experienced the way that policies and laws impact undocumented folks. Something that I have always thought about was how these harsh immigration policies, laws, and programs often make communities not feel secure and therefore tend to not cooperate with police and also have mistrust towards institutions.  

            There have been different programs implemented at the local level and thus have given power to local authorities to handle immigration. In 2012, the Department of Justice (DOJ) began investigating law enforcement practices in Alamance County, North Carolina. The county was accused of targeting Latino communities; the DOJ additionally found that discrimination had occurred in the county’s booking and detention practices related to immigration status checks (Cade 2013). Cade states “policing practices that violate noncitizens’ constitutional rights are thus a persistent and growing feature of immigration enforcement” (2013). Reports based on local immigration enforcement showed enforcement taking part in racial profiling and violation of fourth-amendment rights (Cade 2013). Additionally, immigrants did not have due process regarding their immigration case.
            Citizen reports are commonly the reason that criminals are apprehended and victim cooperation is essential for successful prosecution (Davis et al, 2001), therefore if legal cynicism and police mistrust exists within a community, there is going to be less likely reportage of crimes and collaboration with local enforcement. Although the undocumented population is not compromised of just Latinos, there tends to be more focus on Latino communities due to a larger presence. Thus, Latinos become the target population when it comes to immigration. Draconian laws such as Arizona’s “show me your papers law” SB1070, showcases the concern over targeting Latino populations and therefore inducing racial profiling.
            Kirk et al states that “harsh enforcement of laws may undermine the ability of police to control crime by reducing the willingness of immigrants to report crimes and cooperate with police criminal investigations” (2012). Additionally, Sampson, Morenoff, and Raudenbush pointed out how legal cynicism occurs within communities due to mistrust of the legal system and how crime is handled in communities, they also pointed out that legal cynicism leads to an increase in crime (2005). In other words, while immigration laws such as SB1070 and enforcement programs like secure communities are meant to reduce crime and also create public safety, it can unfortunately create the opposite effects due to creating cynicism within immigrant communities.
            If individuals are treated with dignity and respect from legal officials, communities are more likely to judge police as a just institution (Kirk et al, 2012). In contrast, if police and enforcement are reported to target certain populations by racial profiling, constantly harassing and surveilling communities, and doing unnecessary sweeps, checkpoints, raids, and so forth designed as “targeting criminals,” then police and enforcement will be seen as illegitimate. 
         

   Martinez and Lee sought to document the relationship between crime and immigrants. From their data, they concluded that although immigrants face acculturation and settle in socially disorganized neighborhoods, all which are signs that are meant to lead to increase in committing crime, immigrant crime rates were lower than native-born crime rates (Martinez and Lee, 2000). Similar to the Latino paradox, the immigrant paradox concludes that lower crime rates are due to attachment to labor and also economic prosperity with strong family values. Therefore, if scholars’ (Martinez and Lee, 2000; Vaughn et all, 2013) work showcases that immigrant crime rates are lower than native-born crime rates, it is important to look at the way that local police handles immigration issues, particularly in the population that they target. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stated that they do not target non-criminal undocumented immigrants and only prioritize those with major criminal backgrounds, however, data says otherwise. After the implementation of secure communities, arrests and removal of undocumented immigrants due to minor traffic offenses went from 19% in 2008 to 40.4% in 2012 (Treyget et al). These numbers imply that although ICE states that secure communities are meant to remove immigrants with criminal backgrounds, removing immigrants that have committed minor traffic offenses creates distrust within the community and thus increases legal cynicism.
            In a study done on Chinese immigrants and perception of police, Wu et al conclude that Chinese immigrants have a favorable view on police, however, “when Chinese immigrants think poorly of immigration officials and the services they provide, they also hold significantly less favorable attitudes toward local police in both general and specific evaluative areas” (2010). Thus, Wu et al warn that local police should be cautious about enforcing immigration laws, “an authority which usually belongs to federal authority (2010). Enforcing such laws and programs can then create mistrust in communities and also create legal cynicism within immigrant communities.

            Although programs like secure communities are no longer being implemented, such programs have created long-term scars in these communities. As communities continue to resist against deportation quotas and family members being sent to detention centers -- there are still laws being implemented that are anti-immigrant and are inherently racist, such as SB1070. Here's to Arizona's communities for reaching it's 5th year in the resistance against such draconian laws.