All Politics Is Local? County Sheriffs and Localized Policies of Immigration Enforcement

• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017
• Author: Mirya R. Holman,Emily M. Farris
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912916680035
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly

2017, Vol. 70(1) 142 –154

© 2016 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912916680035

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Article

Introduction

With the increasing devolution of immigration policy to

local law enforcement, American county sheriffs provide

a new opportunity to understand the nature of local varia-

tion in both the creation of local policies (or formal rules)

and practices (or normal behavior) and the enactment of

federal and state policies. Our paper provides a broad

account of county sheriffs’ roles in immigration policy, as

sheriffs have a unique position as elected officials with

significant bureaucratic and policy-making responsibili-

ties.1 We detail the current state of county-level immigra-

tion policies and practices in the United States, an

important task given the limited prior scholarship on this

topic. We then utilize an original survey data set of sher-

iffs’ immigration attitudes and office policies and county

demographic information from more than five hundred

elected sheriffs nationwide to examine why we see varia-

tion in local immigration enforcement.

Our research demonstrates that sheriffs’ ideology and

personal characteristics, as well as the partisanship of

the county, shape their personal attitudes about immi-

grants. In turn, these attitudes about immigration play a

key role in influencing local enforcement decisions

around immigration. Sheriffs’ attitudes about immi-

grants and immigration are particularly important when

examining whether their office checks the immigration

status of victims and witnesses to crimes and those

stopped for traffic violations. Our research demonstrates

the variation that exists and the complexity of actors and

context involved in immigration policy decision mak-

ing, particularly at the local level. These findings high-

light that who we elect to office matters in policy making

at all levels of government.

The Politics of Immigration and

Local Law Enforcement

In the summer of 2014, Republican Sheriff Paul Babeu of

Arizona’s Pinal County sparked a series of local

680035PRQXXX10.1177/1065912916680035Political Research QuarterlyFarris and Holman

research-article2016

1Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, USA

2Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Mirya R. Holman, Political Science, Tulane University, 6823 St.

Charles Avenue, Norman Mayer Building, Room 316, New Orleans,

LA 70118, USA.

Email: mholman@tulane.edu

All Politics Is Local? County Sheriffs

and Localized Policies of Immigration

Enforcement

Emily M. Farris1 and Mirya R. Holman2

Abstract

Immigration enforcement and policy making has increasingly devolved to the local level in the United States. American

sheriffs present a unique opportunity to evaluate decisions made about immigration policies in the local context. In

dealing with immigration concerns in their counties, sheriffs act both within the confines of federal and state mandates

and as local policymakers. However, little research comprehensively assesses the role sheriffs play in immigration

policy making. Using data from an original, national survey of more than five hundred elected sheriffs in the United

States, we provide a broad account of sheriffs’ roles in immigration enforcement and policy making. Our research

demonstrates that sheriffs’ ideology and personal characteristics shape their personal attitudes about immigrants. In

turn, these attitudes play a key role in influencing local enforcement decisions. Sheriffs’ immigration attitudes relate

strongest to checks of the immigration status of witnesses and victims and those stopped for traffic violations or

arrested for non-violent crimes. Our results demonstrate the important role of the sheriff in understanding local

variation in immigration policy and the connection between the personal preferences of representatives and policy

making that can emerge across policy environments and levels of government.

Keywords

immigration, immigrants, sheriffs, policy making, local, enforcement