The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing
Abstract:
The devolution of immigration enforcement to local jurisdictions and law enforcement agencies is a defining feature of the contemporary criminal justice–immigration nexus. However, limited empirical work has examined county-level variation in the punishment of non-U.S. citizens. Using detailed case data on the universe of arrests in Texas and California from 2006 to 2018, this chapter estimates local variation in citizenship punishment disparities and the political, social, and local immigration conditions that predict inequality in noncitizen punishment. The results identify substantial geographic heterogeneity in the case processing of noncitizens in both Texas and California. In Texas, Hispanic-White segregation, unemployment, and especially ICE involvement, are salient predictors of counties with pronounced citizenship disparities in case processing. In California, none of these contextual factors predict citizenship punishment disparities. These null results provide suggestive evidence that the statewide policies aimed at decoupling the immigration and criminal justice systems in California may mitigate the effects of ICE partnerships on noncitizen case processing.