Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Immigration Enforcement: Evidence on Management and Policy Consequences

(Public and Non-Profit Management and Finance)

This panel addresses the management and policy consequences of rapidly changing U.S. immigration enforcement and priorities. The absence of comprehensive federal immigration reform creates shifting immigration priorities as governing by executive order becomes more prevalent; and state, local, and nongovernmental actors fill the void in this traditionally federal domain. These papers in particular focus on how and why federal, state, and local actors (federal employees, states and local governments) respond to changing immigration enforcement priorities and policy gaps, and on the performance of service delivery models used by non-federal public and private actors (outsourced and devolved detention enforcement) to manage immigration enforcement in the absence of federal action. The factors examined in these papers, including policy feedback, governance arrangements, diminished federal influence, and organizational performance, further illuminate the consequences of immigration enforcement on detainees and public servants responsible for executing immigration policy, and the opportunities available for improvement.