A Mess in Texas: The Deleterious Consequences of AntiSanctuary City Laws

• In Event: Justice and Injustice: Political Science Perspectives on Crime and Punishment Mini-Conference Lunchtime Poster Session: New Questions in the Politics of Punishment

Abstract

Previous research analyzing the chilling effect of immigration enforcement on cooperation with
the police relies heavily on selfreported
measures, environments with limited external validity,
and observational data subject to omitted variable bias. This paper resolves concerns over
causality by employing a regression discontinuityintime
approach to assess the effects of SB4,
a "show me your papers" bill passed by the Texas state legislature, on 911 calls from immigrant
communities. Results show SB4 reduces 911 calls by over 1 SD relative to the pretreatment
average, but only in places with a high density of noncitizens.
This paper also demonstrates that
the mechanism is fear of deportation, not fear of Trump or the bureaucracy writ large, by
showing that SB4 does not affect 311 calls (where the risk of deportation is minimized) or 911
calls outside Texas (ruling out secular trends in fear). These results causally and behaviorally
explicate that immigration enforcement has a chilling effect on cooperation with the police.

Author

• Marcel Roman, University of California, Los Angeles