Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Using data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), this paper analyzes the determinants and effects of sanctuary policies across all counties in the United States. I use Coarsened Exact Matching (CEM) to statistically match and weight sanctuary counties to non-sanctuary counties on population characteristics, in particular, the size of the population in a county and the foreign-born percentage of the total population. The first part of the paper then models the determinants of sanctuary counties, focusing on political determinants. The second part of the paper then analyzes the effects that sanctuary policies have on a menu of county-level economic and social indicators taken from the American Community Survey. I also analyze the effects that sanctuary policies have on crime rates using data obtained from the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program. These analyses have the potential to bring evidence-based findings into a highly charged political and policy debate when it comes to local entanglement with federal immigration enforcement efforts.