Public Opinion on Immigration Law Enforcement, Support for the Police, and Obligation to Report Undocumented Immigrants to the Police

• Published date: 01 January 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221120950
• Author: Joselyne L. Chenane
• Date: 01 January 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

Public Opinion on Immigration

Law Enforcement, Support for

the Police, and Obligation to

Report Undocumented

Immigrants to the Police

Joselyne L. Chenane

1

Abstract

Immigration and immigration enforcement are highly debated in the United States and

internationally; however, few studies have examined public opinion on immigration

law enforcement using a national sample. Using a panel-based national sur vey of

U.S. citizens, this study explored whether the 2016 U.S. presidential candidate choice

inf‌luenced public opinion concerning local police off‌icers’involvement in immigration

enforcement. Findings from OLS models indicated that, compared to those who

voted for Donald Trump in 2016, those who voted for Hillary Clinton were less likely

to endorse using local police to aid in immigration law enforcement and to believe

that the public is obligated to report undocumented immigrants to the police.

Additionally, compared to those who voted for Donald Trump, those who voted

for Hillary Clinton were more inclined to agree that using local police to enforce

immigration laws would lower public support for the police. Policy implications are

discussed.

Keywords

immigration enforcement, police, police legitimacy, immigration, Donald Trump

1

School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Joselyne L. Chenane, School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowel, 113

Wilder Street, HSSB 473, Lowell, MA 01854, USA.

Email: Joselyne_nkogo@uml.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2025, Vol. 15(1) 119-140

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221120950

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Introduction

In the U.S., the federal government is primarily responsible for enforcement of

immigration laws, yet local enforcement of immigration laws became a greater

concern in the aftermath of 9/11. The death of approximately 3,000 people in

New York City’sTwinTowersamplif‌ied public concerns about safety and secur-

ity in the United States, and subsequently, immigration law enforcement became

increasingly devolved to local police departments (Chand, 2020; Farris &

Holman, 2017). As of 2018, nine states

1

had adopted anti-sanctuary laws,

which allowed local police agencies to enforce immigration laws, and it appears

this trend will continue (Henderson, 2018). The number of bills introduced into

state legislatures related to sanctuary cities (either pro or anti) increased from

11 in 2016 to about 150 in 2017 (Collingwood & O’Brien, 2019). Scholars

have criticized the blurring of roles between federal government and local law

enforcement agencies, such as municipal and county departments. They argue

that cooperation between the federal government and local police departments

in immigration law enforcement may strain police-public relations, particularly

among immigrants and immigrant communities (Casellas & Wallace, 2020;

Chand, 2020; Thompson, 2020; Wong et al., 2021). To elaborate on this point,

Quattlebaum and colleagues (2018) noted local police department involvement

in federal immigration enforcement erodes efforts to build community trust and

decreases their ability to ensure community safety. Interestingly, local law

enforcement off‌icers (e.g., sheriffs) have endorsed local police involvement in

immigration enforcement irrespective of political party aff‌iliation (Thompson,

2020).

On the other hand, public opinion about immigrants and immigration enforce-

ment is divided with some respondents supporting policies that favor immigration

and immigrants while others oppose these policies. Some of the fear among

U.S.-born citizens, justif‌ied or otherwise, stems from concerns that any new arrivals

will compete with U.S.-born citizens for jobs, make society less safe, and/or “dilute”

existing cultural values and tenets (Pryce, 2018; Stephan et al., 1999; Stephan &

Stephan, 2000). Public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration also vary

across political ideology/ party aff‌iliation with Democrats and Independents

holding more favorable views than Republicans. For instance, a 2017 CBS News

poll of adults found more Republicans (38%) believed undocumented immigrants

are more likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born citizens. Conversely, fewer

(9%) Democrats believed immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than

U.S.-born (Kulig et al., 2020). Former President Donald Trump, a Republican can-

didate, heightened the salience of immigration by portraying Mexican and other

Latin American immigrants as “bad hombres”and advocated for building a wall

on the southern border to block entry into the United States from Mexico during

his presidential campaign (Kulig et al., 2020; Wong et al., 2021). From my view,

weaponizing immigration policies to discriminate against immigrants and non-

whites is both un-American and bad for America in a number of ways. For

120 Race and Justice 15(1)