A study examines the impact of sanctuary policies on deportations and crime in the United States. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds that sanctuary policies--or county refusals of ICE requests to detain noncitizens beyond their release dates from jail or prison--increase crime and prevent the deportation of violent criminals. To estimate the impact of sanctuary policies on deportations and crime, David Hausman analyzed November 2008-December 2015 ICE deportations data for US counties with the largest Hispanic populations and combined the data with 2010-2015 crime data from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sanctuary counties experienced a significant decrease in overall deportations in the months following the adoption of sanctuary policies. However, deportations of individuals with violent convictions did not decrease, whereas deportations of individuals without convictions decreased by approximately 50%. Furthermore, sanctuary policies did not appear to have a significant effect on crime rates or the rate at which police arrested individuals for reported crimes. The findings suggest that sanctuary policies do not threaten public safety despite reducing deportations, according to the author.
Article #20-14673: "Sanctuary policies reduce deportations without increasing crime," by David K. Hausman.
MEDIA CONTACT: David K. Hausman, Stanford University, CA; tel: 608-609-7077; e-mail: dhausman@stanford.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences