Assessing the Implications of Title 42 for Crimmigration

• In Event: Immigration and Crimmigration in the Courts

Abstract

Historically, administrative procedures and a selective criminal justice system have worked in tandem to stem and deter illegal immigration. However, the administrative tools to regulate illegal immigration changed on a dime in March 2020 when (a) the Covid-19 pandemic broke out and (b) the Trump Administration invoked Title 42 of the Public Health Service Act of 1944. Functionally, Title 42 allowed the federal government to subvert some of the prior administrative protections (e.g., credible fear interviews and, if applicable, formal deportation hearings) and summarily expel unauthorized migrants back to their home country. Utilizing a general systems theory framework, the goal of this study is to advance work on crimmigration and justice administration by assessing the implications of Title 42’s administrative streamlining for criminal case processing. Specifically, we are interested in how the increased capacity for administrative deportations impacted illegal re-entry case volumes, compositions, severities, and punishments. To achieve our goal, we utilize sentencing data for illegal re-entry (and drug trafficking as a comparative baseline) offenses along the Southwest border, along with encounter-level data from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Implications for policy, theory, and research are discussed.

Authors

• Bryan Holmes, Florida State University

• Jasmyn Stevens, Florida State University

• Mykaela McDaniel, Florida State University