Impacts of immigration policy attitudes on perceptions of immigrant crime

• In Event: Crimmigration

Abstract

Despite decades of research showing that claims linking immigration to crime are incongruent with empirical data on immigration and crime, public and political perceptions in the United States (U.S.) continue to link immigration to crime. While much is known about how perceptions of immigrant criminality fuel support for punitive immigration policies, including the deportation of undocumented immigrants, little attention has been given to the possibility that support for punitive immigration policies like deportation reflects a broader punitive lens through which people interpret or perceive immigrant crime, or it represents a worldview that shapes perceptions of immigrant criminality. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether support for the deportation of undocumented immigrants reflects a punitive lens through which U.S.-born adults interpret or perceive immigrant criminality. Using data from the American Trends Panel Wave 151 by Pew Research, the study specifically examines whether U.S.-born adults’ support for the deportation of undocumented immigrants shapes their perceptions of undocumented immigrant crime and whether the relationship varies by race. Regression analyses suggest that U.S.-born adults who favor the deportation of undocumented immigrants are more likely to perceive undocumented immigrants as increasing crime, net of controls. This relationship was particularly stronger among White non-Hispanic respondents and weaker among Black non-Hispanic and Hispanic respondents. These findings indicate that support for punitive immigration policies, including the deportation of undocumented immigrants, is not just an issue of policy preference to tackle immigrant criminality but a broader punitive orientation that shapes perceptions of immigrant criminality among U.S.-born adults.

Author

• Daniel Tei, Arizona State University-Tempe