(iPoster) The Geopolitics of Policing within the 100-Mile Border Zone

• In Event: Poster Session: Racial, Ethnic, Gender, LGBTQ+ Politics & Sexuality and Politics
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Racial, Ethnic, Gender, LGBTQ+ Politics

Abstract

What effect do borders have on the targeting of Latinx communities? This paper examines the 100-Mile Border Zone, a national security policy that secures a large area of domestic space as an active borderland. Qualitative work on this space suggests that Latinx citizens are disproportionately policed by local and state law enforcement within this space. Based on this literature, I hypothesize that the 100-Mile Border Zone operates as a racial marker of identity and increases the probability that Latinx people will be stopped in this space. I test this hypothesis by leveraging a natural experiment to exploit cross state and county variation of the 100- Mile Border Zone. I rely on an original data set of the border zone and police stop data. Using a non-parametric regression discontinuity model, I find that the probability that a stop is Latinx increases within this zone. What these results reveal is that borders and proximity to borders effect when and how Latinx communities are targeted and racialized by the state. Ultimately, this paper challenges traditional understanding of where the state deploys border security logic.

Author

• Elyse Hatch Rivera, UT Austin