Are Doubly Policed Places Less Healthy? Immigration Enforcement, Policing, and Population Health

• In Event: Crimmigration

Abstract

Local policing and immigration enforcement operate simultaneously across U.S. counties, but their overlap is not geographically uniform. This paper examines the geography and consequences of "doubly policed places," counties characterized by simultaneously high levels of local policing and immigration enforcement, conceptualized as a form of institutional layering that represents the culmination of state capacity across local, state, and federal enforcement efforts. Using county-level data from 2014–2018, we address three research questions: (1) What is the geographic and temporal distribution of institutional overlap? (2) Are health outcomes worse in doubly policed places? (3) Do observed patterns align with hypothesized mechanisms of family disruption and system avoidance? Results show that institutional overlap is geographically concentrated, with California experiencing double policing at 11 times the national rate and 26 U.S. states experiencing zero overlap, while remaining temporally episodic at the county level, with 95% of counties experiencing zero consecutive years of double policing. Across five family disruption indicators doubly policed places consistently show the most severe outcomes, providing robust evidence that institutional overlap produces measurable family disruption. System avoidance indicators show outcome-specific and enforcement-type-specific patterns. These findings document that institutional overlap creates a distinct enforcement environment.

Authors

• Tatiana Padilla, Boston University

• Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities