Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has two primary methods by which to locate and deport undocumented individuals living within the United States: establishment audits and jail audits. Information on ICE's establishment-level audits has, until now, been only available sporadically and in aggregate form. This makes it difficult to assess what instigates them and their importance in ICE's overall domestic operations as well as what impact they may have on significant economic outcomes. I use new data on ICE's establishment audits to evaluate the causes and consequences of these audits. I find that Secure Community roll-out, which facilitates jail audits, reduces the number of establishment ICE audits in a given county by seven percent, indicating that ICE is allocating more of its time and resources on jail audits as opposed to establishment audits. Secure Community roll-out also reduces the number of undocumented individuals ICE finds in establishment audits by 11 percent, indicating that jail audits reduce the efficiency of establishment-level audits. When considering the consequences of establishment audits, I find that these audits reduce employment for individuals that are Hispanic and Asian. Yet, this relationship is imprecise. I also find that establishment audits lead to a small increase in reported crimes.