Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The issue of immigration, particularly undocumented immigration, has long been the subject of heavy debate and political gridlock in the U.S. Undocumented immigration reached public consciousness in the 1980s, following system reforms and the termination of a temporary worker program for Mexican agricultural laborers two decades prior. Steady increases in undocumented immigration prompted comprehensive reform in 1986 providing amnesty while bolstering enforcement and border security. Rapid economic growth in the 1990s and early 2000s, as well as strong migration push factors in Mexico and Central America, drove undocumented immigration up even more, finally reaching a peak of 12 million in 2008. What began as an unanticipated issue would turn into one of the most challenging and divisive policy issues of the late 20th- and early 21st-centuries.

Inaction by the U.S. Congress and security concerns post-September 11th led to a surge in local government action aimed at addressing issues related to undocumented immigration. One measure seized by local governments was the application of a formerly unused federal program called 287(g) that legally authorized state and local governments to participate in federal enforcement of immigration law by deputizing local law enforcement agencies to carry out the duties of federal immigration enforcement agents. Los Angeles County became the first to enter into a county-level 287(g) agreement in early 2005, placing federally-trained deputies in county jails to screen convicted inmates for immigration status and issue detainers to those found to be without documentation. The program has accounted for over 400,000 deportations since 2006—over 20,000 in Los Angeles County—often disrupting families and placing significant stress on those with family members at risk of detection. The impact these disruptions can have on the family unit and the children within them has be understudied and largely absent from policy discussions.

This study considers how family cohesion changed in the wake of heightened local-level immigration enforcement among undocumented immigrant families residing in Los Angeles County, California. This study uses a two-wave longitudinal household survey of residents that bookend the program’s implementation. This study exploits the survey’s timing and indicators of immigrant legal status to perform a double difference-in-differences analysis to test whether the policy impacted measures of family cohesion among those with an undocumented parent.

The results of this analysis seek to convey how local immigration enforcement programs impact family units and the children within them. The current administration recently issued an executive order cutting federal funding to cities providing sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, portending a new era of crackdown on jurisdictions that seek to reduce the potential for harm and an increased push to broaden the role of local law enforcement agencies in enforcing immigration law. This study's findings are intended for domestic and international policy makers, policy researchers, and the public to understand the unintended consequences and residual impact of heightened immigration enforcement as palpable concern regarding migrant-inflow and undocumented entry spreads across Europe and the U.S.