Immigration Article of the Day: Sanctuary City and Crime by Yuki Otsu

Sanctuary City and Crime by Yuki Otsu

Abstract

A main objective for local police enforcement agencies is to keep their communities safe. Among recent debates in the U.S. about undocumented immigrants and safety of communities, more attention is paid to so-called “Sanctuary policy”, which limits enforcement of immigration laws against undocumented immigrants. The theoretical effect of “Sanctuary policy” on crime is ambiguous. On the one hand, sanctuary policy could attract criminals and lower the opportunity cost of crime through lower sanctions and lower apprehension probability. On the other hand, the policy may make a spiral of trust that supports police and raises informal social control over crime. I investigate if “Sanctuary policy” induces crime. Using a difference in difference approach with city crime data from 1999 to 2010, sanctuary policies do not raise crime and even lower some crime categories such as robbery and burglary. Thus, it is unlikely that sanctuary policy increases crime. I investigate the mechanism behind the relationship and find that sanctuary policy does not increase foreigners or migrants.

KJ