Dissertation
Social and economic consequences of “get tough” on immigration
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2022
DOI: 10.17077/etd.006423
Abstract
Immigration enforcement has been expanded from the borders to the interior of the United States. Restrictive immigration control has subjected more immigrant detainees to private prison facilities. While existing scholarship has paid attention to the correlates of these expansions in immigration enforcement, we still lack information about the consequences of interior immigration enforcement and the unique financial partnerships between private prison corporations and the government. This dissertation includes a series of three papers that can address these remaining questions.
In the first paper, I provide a comprehensive review of the history of U.S. immigration politics and policies. By drawing on theories in the sociology of punishment, I offer theoretical frameworks to explain the expectation of restrictive immigration enforcement in the United States, particularly over the past 40 years. "Prevention through deterrence" is a fundamental idea in restrictive U.S. immigration control policies, which hopes to reduce undocumented immigrants' illegal entry to the United States and discourage their staying in the country. Despite the ineffectiveness of restrictive immigration enforcement, we have seen growing numbers of policies that seek to control immigration in recent decades. Using the threat perspectives, I argue how perceived criminal threats by immigrants lead to public demands on more punitive approaches in immigration control. Additionally, I discuss the roles of laws and media for constructing criminalized immigrants in the United States.
The second paper examines the impacts of interior immigration enforcement on migratory behaviors. The Secure Communities (S-comm) immigration program has allowed local law enforcement officers to identify non-citizen arrestees for deportation in local jails, greatly expanding immigration enforcement within the interior United States. Although S- vi comm’s purpose is the reduction of undocumented immigrants, its effectiveness has not been fully studied. The second paper in this dissertation analyzes data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) to understand whether undocumented Mexican-born immigrants likely to leave the United States to avoid the punitive S-comm enforcement. Results from discrete-time multilevel survival models show that S-comm has had no meaningful impact on undocumented Mexican immigrants' self-deportation. Rather, S-comm has had unintended consequences, including encouraging documented Mexican immigrants in border states to leave the United States. Together, these results highlight a mismatch between the intention of the policy and its consequences, suggesting the potential for future immigration policy reform.
In the third paper, I examine the effects of immigration politics and policies on private prison corporations (PPCs)’ business. Although theories suggest political influence in the operation of PPCs, it is less known about the effects of immigration politics on PPCs’ business. Using stock market data (2001 through 2020), I examine how different kinds of U.S. immigration politics can shape PPCs’ stock values. Results show that restrictive immigration politics create favorable conditions for PPCs, leading to increased stock values. Yet, sanctions threats to PPCs lead to decreased stock values by creating market uncertainty. These results are replicated using theoretically comparable digital security companies. However, only meaningful changes are found in PPCs, holding a unique business partnership with governments. Overall, these findings highlight more consequential effects of national-level politics and sanctions threats on PPCs, suggesting policy implications.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Social and economic consequences of “get tough” on immigration
- Creators
- Jihye Park
- Contributors
- Karen Heimer (Advisor)Stephanie DiPietro (Advisor)Rene Rocha (Committee Member)Sara Mitchell (Committee Member)Meghan Rogers (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Sociology
- Date degree season
- Spring 2022
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.006423
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- xii, 116 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2022 Jihye Park
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- Tables, graphs
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 93-116).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
Immigration enforcement has been expanded from the borders to the interior of the United States. Restrictive immigration control has subjected more immigrant detainees to private prison facilities. While existing scholarship has paid attention to the correlates of these expansions in immigration enforcement, we still lack information about the consequences of interior immigration enforcement and the unique financial partnerships between private prison corporations and the government.
This dissertation aims to better understand the social consequences of increasingly-restrictive U.S. immigration politics and policies. First, I review a history of U.S. immigration regulations and offer theoretical frameworks to explain the logic and expansion of U.S. restrictive immigration control. In the second paper, I examine efficacy of the interior immigration enforcement policy; whether undocumented immigrants are likely to leave the United States to avoid punitive immigration enforcement. In the third paper, I investigate the effects of harsh immigration politics and sanctions threats on private prison corporations’ business using their stock values. Based on the findings from these empirical studies, I will discuss implications for future U.S. immigration policies and offer directions for future research.
- Academic Unit
- Sociology and Criminology
- Record Identifier
- 9984271054702771
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