Perceptions of the U.S. Police Among Latin-American Immigrants: A Bifocal Lens View

• Published date: 01 October 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221130277
• Author: Hyeyoung Lim,Nadejda Bontcheva-Loyaga
• Date: 01 October 2024
• Subject Matter: Articles

Perceptions of the U.S. Police

Among Latin-American

Immigrants: A Bifocal

Lens View

Hyeyoung Lim

1

and Nadejda Bontcheva-Loyaga

2

Abstract

The current study aimed to identify Latin-American immigrants’bifocal lens views of

the U.S. police and compare them to their contact experiences with their home-

country police. We performed semi-structured interviews with twenty-one Latin-

American immigrants who have resided in the Birmingham metropolitan area in

Alabama. An inductive analysis approach was employed to analyze the qualitative

data. The results showed that the Latin-American immigrants’direct contact experi-

ence with the U.S. police has mainly been positive, but they still felt targeted. Even if

their indirect experiences lead them to perceive a violent and biased image of the U.S.

police force, participants appreciated the U.S. police as honest and not corrupt.

Besides, while most participants expressed willingness to report crimes, they simul-

taneously recognized that other Latin-American immigrants would not feel comfort-

able reporting crimes due to the fear of deportation. Finally, we found that the

perception of the U.S. police among Latin-American immigrants was primarily the

result of the juxtaposition of the U.S. police’s professionalism against their home-

country police. We further discuss policy implications and study limitations in this

study.

1

Department of Criminal Justice, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, UBOB 210, 1201 University

Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294, USA

2

Department of Politics & Economics, Calvin University, Hiemenga Hall 354, 1845 Knollcrest Circle SE,

Grand Rapids, MI 49525, USA

Corresponding Author:

Hyeyoung Lim, Department of Criminal Justice, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, UBOB 210,

1201 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294.

Email: hyeyoung@uab.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2024, Vol. 14(4) 592-619

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221130277

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

Keywords

comparative policing, immigrant, Latin-American, attitude toward the police, bifocal

lens view, perception

According to the U.S. Census population estimates, by July 1, 2019, there were

approximately 60.7 million Latin-Americans (18.5 %) living in the United States,

making them the second-largest racial/ethnic group living in the country: White

alone (60.1%) and Black or African American alone (13.4%). The top 10 states

with the largest Latin-American populations as of 2019 are New Mexico (49.3%),

Texas (39.7%), California (39.4%), Arizona (31.7%), Nevada (29.2%), Florida

(26.4%), Colorado (21.8%), New Jersey (20.9%) New York (19.3%), and Illinois

(17.5%) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). Since 2010, the Latin-American population

has increased by about 2.2%, but this growth accounts for 52% of the U.S. population

growth over the period (Noe-Bustamante, Lopez, & Krogstad, 2020). Based on the

report by Batalova, Hanna, and Levesque (2021), approximately 45 million immi-

grants resided in the United States in 2019, and f‌ive out of the top ten largest U.S.

immigrant groups were from Latin-American countries: Mexico (24%), El Salvador

(3%), Cuba (3%), Dominican Republic (3%), and Guatemala (2%).

In contrast, the representation of Latin-American police off‌icers in local law

enforcement agencies increased from 7.8% in 1997 to 12.5% in 2016 (Hyland &

Davis, 2019). Although this shows an improvement in the racial make-up of the

police, it still does not suff‌iciently ref‌lect the Latin-American population living in

the United States. Historically and until current, White off‌icers have over-occupied

local police agencies (78.5% in 1997 to 71.5% in 2016; see Hyland & Davis,

2019). Unbalanced racial make-ups between the police and the citizens can contribute

to conf‌licts with racial/ethnic minorities, including Latin-American communities.

Police agencies, which ref‌lect the racial makeup of the citizens they serve, can

better understand their constituents’needs and culture, increasing trust and cooperation

with minorities (Gustafson, 2013). Due to minorities’perceptions of the police as part

of a system geared towards their subordination, they could hold more negative views

of the police (Weitzer & Tuch, 2005b), mainly when the police force is comprised

mostly of representatives of the dominant group (Whites). Evidently, Cochran and

Warren (2012) found that minority citizens rate minority off‌icers’legitimacy higher

during traff‌ic stops and view White off‌icers’behavior more skeptically.

The American public’s perception and evaluation of the police are closely con-

nected to race (Gau et al., 2010; Lim & Lee, 2021; Skogan, 2005; Weitzer, 2002).

Namely, White people hold the most positive views of the police, and Black people

hold the most negative views of the police. Latin-Americans fall in between these

two groups in their evaluation of the U.S. police (Cheurprakobit, 2000; Garcia &

Cao, 2005; Peck, 2015; Rengifo et al., 2016; Schuck & Rosenbaum, 2005; Schuck,

Rosenbaum, & Hawkins, 2008; Weitzer, 2015). Findings in this f‌ield, however,

have been mixed with studies that found no effect for Latin Americans between

minority status and police perception (Brown & Benedict, 2005; Drakulich &

Lim and Bontcheva-Loyaga 593