Police Executive Research Forum: Freeing Local Police from Immigration Enforcement

Dealing with immigration issues is one of the most critical and frustrating challenges police and sheriffs' departments currently face. To solve this problem and take some pressure off their members, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) has conducted research and met with police leaders to frame immigration policy recommendations not only to guide local authorities, but to inform Congress and the Obama administration as well. Using local police to enforce federal immigration law creates a climate of fear and division, according to PERF. Carnegie Corporation, which encourages the integration of immigrants into civic life, has supported PERF's efforts to assess enforcement practices, come up with more useful policies and make the problem part of the national debate. This issue of Carnegie Results describes how PERF gives policymakers and the public much-needed information about the effects of immigration laws, which, according to Geri Mannion, program director of the Corporation's U.S. Democracy and Special Opportunities Fund, have had real consequences for many individuals those who are undocumented as well as those who are legal immigrants but not citizens, and even those who simply appear to be immigrants or undocumented. These policies also have serious repercussions for the police who must enforce them.

Citation: Theroux, Karen, Police Executive Research Forum: Freeing Local Police from Immigration Enforcement. A Carnegie Results Publication (Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2011)

Program: Democracy