Empowering local police to enforce U.S. immigration policy has led to a patchwork of inconsistent measures

Since 1996, local police departments in the U.S. have gained the power to enforce immigration policies, so that local police may now check arrestees and other persons they encounter for possible immigration violations. Using survey data from police executives of 237 cities, Paul G. Lewis, Scott H. Decker, Doris Marie Provine, and Monica W. Varsanyi have closely examined how police departments now enforce immigration policies at street level. They find that police practices tend to reflect policy priorities, if they have been set out clearly, and that Hispanic police chiefs and elected officials are associated with lessened enforcement. They argue that many police departments develop ad hoc strategies to deal with potential unauthorized immigrants, or simply leave key decisions up to the discretion of individual officers.