Doctoral Dissertation Research: Policing Immigrants: Immigration and Local Governance

尽管联邦政府拥有管理美国移民的专属权力，但越来越多的城市正在制定旨在将移民驱逐出当地的移民政策。本项目以田纳西州纳什维尔及其287(G)的应用为例，重点研究地方政府如何实施移民控制。根据《非法移民改革和责任法》第287(G)条的授权，第287(G)条允许地方执法官员检查移民的公民身份，并在必要时将他们驱逐出境。在纳什维尔，警察局和警长部门都与287(G)的实施有牵连；警察逮捕人员，警长的副手随后会对他们进行移民违规行为的筛查。该项目的研究策略包括采访287(G)政策领域的利益相关者和进行人种学观察，包括警察骑车。对当地执法机构的管理人员和员工进行了访谈，以了解员工对287(G)实施的偏好，以及官僚做法、职业认同、职业规范和感受到的外部压力水平。与移民倡导者的访谈揭示了他们的组织如何或是否向当地机构施压，要求其不执行，并了解到287(G)对当地移民人口的影响。本项目从官僚理论中得出结论，即处于政策执行第一线的人通过他们的行动来制定政策，本项目考察了287(G)的实施如何取决于政策舞台上参与者的偏好，以及当地执法机构的制度特征。这项研究之所以重要，是因为它通过展示移民监管的实地规则，挑战了有关当地移民执法日益增长的趋势的假设。

Although the federal government has the exclusive authority to regulate migration in the United States, increasingly, cities are creating immigration policies aimed at expelling immigrants from their localities. This project focuses on how local bureaucracies implement immigration control, using Nashville, Tennessee, and its application of 287(g) as a case study. Authorized under Section 287(g) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act, 287(g) allows local law enforcement officials to check immigrants' citizenship status and, if necessary, process them for deportation. In Nashville, both the Police and Sheriff's Departments are implicated in 287(g) implementation; police officers arrest people who are subsequently screened for immigration violations by Sheriff's deputies.The research strategy for this project involves interviews with stake-holders in the 287(g) policy arena and ethnographic observations, including police ride-alongs. Interviews with administrators and employees in local law enforcement agencies are conducted to understand employee preferences with respect to 287(g) implementation, as well as bureaucratic practices, professional identity, professional norms, and perceived levels of external pressure. Interviews with immigrant advocates uncover how, or if, their organizations pressure local agencies for non-implementation, and get at the effects of 287(g) on the local immigrant population.Drawing from theories of bureaucracy suggesting that people on the front lines of policy implementation make policy through their actions, this project examines how 287(g) implementation depends on the preferences of actors in the policy arena, and the institutional characteristics of local law enforcement agencies. This research is important because it challenges assumptions about the growing trend toward local immigration enforcement by demonstrating the on-the-ground rules of immigration policing.