Hostname: page-component-54dcc4c588-m259h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-12T04:27:24.766Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Ripple Effect: The Political Consequences of Proximal Contact with Immigration Enforcement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2020

Hannah Walker Open the ORCID record for Hannah Walker [Opens in a new window] ,
Marcel Roman  and
Matt Barreto
Hannah Walker*
Affiliation:
Rutgers University
Marcel Roman
Affiliation:
University of California-Los Angeles
Matt Barreto
Affiliation:
University of California-Los Angeles
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Hannah Walker, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States. E-mail: hannah.walker@rutgers.edu
Get access

Abstract

A growing body of research suggests that proximal exposure to immigration enforcement can have important social and health-related consequences. However, there is little research identifying the impact of proximal contact with immigration policy on political attitudes and behaviors, and still less investigating the underlying mechanisms that might connect contact and political dispositions. Drawing on insights from criminal justice, we argue that proximal immigration contact influences political behavior via a sense of injustice with respect to the discriminatory application of immigration enforcement. The impact of a sense of injustice should primarily hold among Latinos, who are targeted on the basis of race, ethnicity, accent, and skin color. Nevertheless, it may also hold among Blacks, whose communities are targeted more generally, and Asians, to whom issues related to immigration are likewise important. In order to assess this theory, we leverage a survey with nationally representative samples of four different racial groups. We find that proximal contact motivates participation in protests, and does so indirectly via a sense of injustice for white and Asian respondents. Latino and Black respondents are primarily motivated by injustice irrespective of contact. In sum, the results suggest that immigration enforcement and non-immigration-related criminal justice policies may have similar political effects on those who are proximately affected.

Keywords

Immigrationlaw enforcementpolitical participationpolicy feedback

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 5 , Special Issue 3: Race and Criminal Justice , November 2020 , pp. 537 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina, and Lopez, Mary J.. 2017. “Interior Immigration Enforcement and Political Participation of US Citizens in Mixed-Status Households.” Demography 54(6): 2223–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anoll, Allison, and Israel-Trummel, Mackenzie. 2019 “Do felony disenfrachisement laws (De-)Mobilize? A case of surrogate participation.” Journal of Politics 81(4): 1523–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aranda, Elizabeth, Menjivar, Cecilia, and Donato, Katharine M.. 2014. “The Spillover Consequences of an Enforcement-First US Immigration Regime.” American Behavioral Scientist 58(13): 1687–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ash, Elliot, Fagan, Jeffrey, and Harris, Allison. Forthcoming. “Local Public Finance and Discriminatory Policing: Evidence from Traffic Stops in Missouri.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Politics.Google Scholar
Barreto, Matt A., Manzano, Sylvia, Ramirez, Ricardo, and Rim, Kathy. 2009. “Mobilization, Participation, and Solidaridad Latino Participation in the 2006 Immigration Protest Rallies.” Urban Affairs Review 44(5): 736–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Batalova, Jeanne, and Alperin, Elijah. 2018. “Immigrants in the U.S. states with the fastest-growing foreign born populations.” Migration Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Bowler, Shaun, Nicholson, Stephen P., and Segura, Gary M.. 2006. “Earthquakes and Aftershocks: Race, Direct Democracy, and Partisan Change.” American Journal of Political Science 50(1): 146–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brayne, Sarah. 2014. “Surveillance and System Avoidance: Criminal Justice Contact and Institutional Attachment.” American Sociological Review 79(3): 367–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruch, Sarah K., and Soss, Joe. 2018. “Schooling as a Formative Political Experience: Authority Relations and the Education of Citizens.” Perspectives on Politics 16(1): 36–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burch, Traci. 2013. Trading Democracy for Justice: Criminal Convictions and the Decline of Neighborhood Political Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Andrea Louise. 2003. “Participatory Reactions to Policy Threats: Senior Citizens and the Defense of Social Security and Medicare.” Political Behavior 25(1): 29–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capps, Randy, Chishti, Muzaffar, Gelatt, Julia, Bolter, Jessica, and Ruiz Soto, Ariel G.. 2018. “Revving up the Deportation Machinery.”Google Scholar
Immigrant Legal Resource Center. 2019. “National Map of 287(g) Agreements.”Google Scholar
Condon, Meghan, Filindra, Alexandra, and Wichowsky, Amber. 2016. “Immigrant Inclusion in the Safety net: A Framework for Analysis and Effects on Educational Attainment.” Policy Studies Journal 44(4): 424–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. 1994. Behind the Mule: Race and Class in African-American Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Drakulich, Kevin, Hagan, John, Johnson, Devon, and Wozniak, Kevin H.. 2017. “Race, Justice, Policing, and the 2016 American Presidential Election.” Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race 14(1): 7–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, Rose. 2010. The Price of Progressive Politics: The Welfare Rights Movement in an Era of Colorblind Racism. New York: NYU Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filindra, Alexandra, and Goodman, Sara Wallace. N.d. “Studying Public Policy through Immigration Policy: Advances in Theory and Measurement.” Policy Studies Journal 47(3): 498–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Filindra, Alexandra, Blanding, David, and Coll, Cynthia Garcia. 2011. “The Power of Context: State-Level Policies and Politics and the Educational Performance of the Children of Immigrants in the United States.” Harvard Educational Review 81(3): 407–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores, Antonio. 2017. “How the U.S. Hispanic population is changing.” Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Flores, Rene D. 2014. “Living in the Eye of the Storm: How did Hazleton's Restrictive Immigration Ordinance Affect Local Interethnic Relations?” American Behavioral Scientist 58(13): 1743–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foer, Franklin. 2018. “How Trump radicalized ICE.” The Atlantic.Google Scholar
Gamson, William A. 1968. Power and Discontent. Homewood: Dorsey Press.Google Scholar
Gerber, Alan S., Huber, Gregory A., Meredith, Marc, Biggers, Daniel R., and Hendry, David J.. 2015. “Can Incarcerated Felons be (Re) Integrated into the Political System? Results from a Field Experiment.” American Journal of Political Science 59(4): 912–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillion, Daniel Q. 2013. The Political Power of Protest: Minority Activism and Shifts in Public Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzalez-Barrera, Ana, and Manuel Krogstad, Jens. 2018. “Hispanic voters more engaged in 2018 than in previous midterms.” Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Hurwitz, Jon, Peffley, Mark, and Mondak, Jeffery. 2015. “Linked Fate and Outgroup Perceptions: Blacks, Latinos, and the U.S. Criminal Justice System.” Political Research Quarterly 68(3): 505–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Israel-Trummel, Mackenzie, and Shortle, Allyson. 2019. “Mobilizing Threats?: Perceptions of Deportation Risk and Political Participation in 2016.” Working Paper.Google Scholar
Junn, Jane, and Masuoka, Natalie. 2008. “Asian American Identity: Shared Racial Status and Political Context.” Perspectives on Politics 6(4): 729–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerman, Amy, and Weaver, Vesla. 2014. Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López, Gustavo, Ruiz, Neil, and Patten, Eileen. 2017. “Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population.” Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Maltby, Elizabeth. 2017. “The Political Origins of Racial Inequality.” Political Research Quarterly 70(3): 535–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masuoka, Natalie. 2006. “Together They Become One: Examining the Predictors of Panethnic Group Consciousness Among Asian Americans and Latinos.” Social Science Quarterly 87(5): 993–1011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meares, Tracey L. 2012. “The Good Cop: Knowing the Difference Between Lawful or Effective Policing and Rightful Policing-and Why it Matters.” William and Mary Law Review 54:1865.Google Scholar
Mettler, Suzanne, and Soss, Joe. 2004. “The Consequences of Public Policy for Democratic Citizenship: Bridging Policy Studies and Mass Politics.” Perspectives on Politics 2(1): 55–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michener, Jamila. 2018. Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, Arthur H., Gurin, Patricia, Gurin, Gerald, and Malanchuk, Oksana. 1981. “Group Consciousness and Political Participation.” American Journal of Political Science 25(3): 494–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mondak, Jeffery J., Hurwitz, Jon, Peffley, Mark, and Testa, Paul. 2017. “The Vicarious Bases of Perceived Injustice.” American Journal of Political Science 61(4): 804–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ong, Paul. 2011. “Defensive Naturalization and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment: Chinese Immigrants in Three Primate Metropolises.” Harvard Journal of Asian American Policy Reviewer 21:39–55.Google Scholar
Pantoja, Adrian D., and Segura, Gary M.. 2003. “Fear and Loathing in California: Contextual Threat and Political Sophistication Among Latino Voters.” Political Behavior 25(3): 265–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pantoja, Adrian D., Ramirez, Ricardo, and Segura, Gary M.. 2001. “Citizens by Choice, Voters by Necessity: Patterns in Political Mobilization by Naturalized Latinos.” Political Research Quarterly 54(4): 729–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedraza, Franciso I., Nichols, Vanessa Cruz, and LeBrón, Alana M. W.. 2017. “Cautious Citizenship: The Deterring Effect of Immigration Issue Salience on Health Care Use and Bureaucratic Interactions among Latino US Citizens.” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 42(5): 925–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peffley, Mark, and Hurwitz, Jon. 2010. Justice in America: The Separate Realities of Blacks and Whites. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piven, Francis Fox. 2003. “Review: Retrospective Comments.” Perspectives on Politics 1(4): 707–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potochnick, Stephanie, Chen, Jen-Hao, and Perreira, Krista. 2017. “Local-level Immigration Enforcement and Food Insecurity Risk among Hispanic Immigrant Families with Children: National-Level Evidence.” Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 19(5): 1042–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ramakrishnan, Subramanian Karthick. 2005. Democracy in Immigrant America: Changing Demographics and Political Participation. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Rocha, Rene R., Knoll, Benjamin R., and Wrinkle, Robert D.. 2015. “Immigration Enforcement and the Redistribution of Political Trust.” The Journal of Politics 77(4): 901–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rocha, Rene, Maltby, Elizabeth, Jones, Bradford, and Vannette, David. Forthcoming. “Residential Context, Mass Deportation, and Latino Ethnic Identity.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Politics.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, Claudia. 2019. “Communities of color will play a decisive role in the 2020 House races.” Latino Decisions.Google Scholar
Sanchez, Gabriel R. 2006. “The Role of Group Consciousness in Political Participation among Latinos in the United States.” American Politics Research 34(4): 427–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez, Gabriel R., Vargas, Edward D., Walker, Hannah L., and Ybarra, Vickie D.. 2015. “Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Relationship Between Latino/a's Personal Connections to Immigrants and Issue Salience and Presidential Approval.” Politics, Groups, and Identities 3(3): 454–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez, Gabriel R., and Masuoka, Natalie. 2010. “Brown-Utility Heuristic? The Presence and Contributing Factors of Latino Linked Fate.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 32(4): 519–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoub, Kelsey, Epp, Derek A., Baumgartner, Frank R., Christiani, Leah, and Roach, Kevin. Forthcoming. “Race, Place, and Context: The Persistence of Race Effects in Traffic Stop Outcomes in the Face of Situational, Demographic, and Political Controls.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Politics. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2020.8.Google Scholar
Sirin, Cigdem V., Villalobos, José D., and Valentino, Nicholas A.. 2016a. “Group Empathy Theory: The Effect of Group Empathy on US Intergroup Attitudes and Behavior in the Context of Immigration Threats.” The Journal of Politics 78(3): 893–908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sirin, Cigdem V., Valentino, Nicholas A., and Villalobos, José D.. 2016b. “Group Empathy in Response to Nonverbal Racial/Ethnic Cues: A National Experiment on Immigration Policy Attitudes.” American Behavioral Scientist 60(14): 1676–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sirin, Cigdem V., Valentino, Nicholas A., and Villalobos, José D.. 2017. “The Social Causes and Political Consequences of Group Empathy.” Political Psychology 38(3): 427–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soss, Joe. 1999. “Lessons of Welfare: Policy Design, Political Learning, and Political Action.” American Political Science Review 93(2): 363–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soss, Joe, and Schram, Sanford F.. 2007. “A Public Transformed? Welfare Reform as Policy Feedback.” American Political Science Review 101(1): 111–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Street, Alex, Jones-Correa, Michael, and Zepeda-Millán, Chris. 2017. “Political Effects of Having Undocumented Parents.” Political Research Quarterly 70(4): 818–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunshine, Jason, and Tyler, Tom R.. 2003. “The Role of Procedural Justice and Legitimacy in Shaping Public Support for Policing.” Law & Society Review 37(3): 513–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, Edward D. 2015. “Immigration Enforcement and Mixed-Status Families: The Effects of Risk of Deportation on Medicaid Use.” Children and Youth Services Review 57:83–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vargas, Edward D., Sanchez, Gabriel R., and Valdez, Juan A.. 2017. “Immigration Policies and Group Identity: How Immigrant Laws affect Linked Fate among US Latino Populations.” Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics 2(1): 35–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vargas, Edward D., and Pirog, Maureen A.. 2016. “Mixed-Status Families and WIC Uptake: The Effects of Risk of Deportation on Program Use.” Social science quarterly 97(3): 555–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vargas, Edward D., Juárez, Melina, Sanchez, Gabriel R., and Livaudais, Maria. 2018. “Latinos’ Connections to Immigrants: How Knowing a Deportee Impacts Latino Health.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45(15): 2971–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Hannah L. 2014. “Extending the Effects of the Carceral State: Proximal Contact, Political Participation, and Race.” Political Research Quarterly 67(4): 809–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Hannah F. 2016. “Mobilized by injustice: Criminal justice contact, political participation and race.” PhD thesis. Seattle: University of Washington.Google Scholar
Walker, Hannah L., and García-Castañon, Marcela. 2017. “For Love and Justice: The Mobilizing of Race, Gender, and Criminal Justice Contact.” Politics & Gender 13(4): 541–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Tara. 2014. “Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 6(3): 313–38.Google Scholar
Weaver, Vesla, Prowse, Gwen, and Piston, Spencer. 2020. “Withdrawing and Drawing In: Political Discourse in Policed Communities.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Politics. https://doi.org/10.1017/rep.2019.50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, Ariel. 2016. “When Threat Mobilizes: Immigration Enforcement and Latino Voter Turnout.” Political Behavior 38(2): 355–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wong, Janelle S., Lien, Pei-Te, and Conway, M. Margaret. 2005. “Group-based Resources and Political Participation among Asian Americans.” American Politics Research 33(4): 545–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ybarra, Vickie, Juarez, Melina, and Sanchez, Gabriel. N.d. “Do Perceptions Match Reality? Comparing Latinos’ Perceived Views of State Immigration Policy Environments with Enacted Policies.” Policy Studies Journal 47(3): 774–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zepeda-Millán, Chris. 2017. Latino Mass Mobilization: Immigration, Racialization, and Activism. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zong, Jie, Batalova, Jeanne, and Hallock, Jeffrey. 2018. “Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States.” Migration Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Walker et al. supplementary material

Walker et al. supplementary material

Download Walker et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 1.1 MB