Immigration policy has been one of the most widely discussed issues over the last decades. There is no doubt that the successful integration of immigrants into the current social context is of vital significance for any governmental performance. Therefore, the question arises of how strict the boundaries of should be carried out strategy and who is to be in charge of controlling the immigration process handling. Experience has proven that there is often a noticeable gap between the establishment of the line of the immigration policy and the real performance aimed at its realization. Therefore, the local authorities must be in close cooperation with the law enforcement community so that they can set the directions for its activity, monitor the relevant results, and make the necessary allowances. Nevertheless, the police’s involvement in the improvement of the general migration environment is rather problematic. It seems to be well-explicable why immigrants, particularly those who experience certain problems with required legal documents, show reluctance in collaborating with the local policemen. The former, in their turn, do not always possess enough equipment or database supply unlike, for example, the state police agencies. The articles under consideration provide a profound analysis of the police force’s engagement in immigration law control. They try to assess the extent of support the representatives of the local police departments can guarantee in the problem-solving process.
The management of immigration policy in the United States has been traditionally the prerogative power of the federal government. However, the urgent need to take under control the numerous cases of illegal or improperly registered immigrants has prompted the government to address the police agencies for their assistance. Whereas some states eagerly welcomed the appeared initiative for enforcing the immigration policy, other states openly expressed their discontent both with the help of local Mass Media means or public protests (Lewis et al., 2013). The offer raised numerous social fears that the police’s involvement would lead to the discrimination of the immigrants’ rights and, thus, would make the current set of things even worse. However, as it later turned out, many of those states, who were against the immigration policy enforcement with the help of the police members, are now applying for the lawmen’s assistance to settle down the unregistered immigrants’ problem (Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007).
One should point out, that to encourage the police’s participation in the immigration process’s control the department has obtained a series of powers and authority. First of all, many state governments have authorized the police forces to perform vigorous activity aimed at identifying the causes of illegal immigration. These actions are supposed to be carried out in close collaboration with the immigration authorities at the federation level. Secondly, the laws enacted by Congress, enabling the police to perform arrests of the immigrants who have already been accused of immigration law violating. Due to these legal acts, the police also have the legal right to take into custody any person they presume to be suspicious (Lewis et al., 2013). The key problem is that the acquired empowerment is apt to jeopardize the established relationships between the police and the immigrants. Hence, the police have to face the challenge of keeping the balance between preventing possible immigration law violations and respecting civil rights (Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007).
A common misconception exists regarding the sole character of the immigration policy line. Nevertheless, the experience shows that the government can rely on several departments while targeting their regulating activity. Thus, it can integrate both the mayor and the police department is working out the immigration strategy. According to numerous research, police bodies possess vast autonomic rights in the question of working with immigrants (Lewis et al., 2013). Some case studies show that an enforcement measure is sometimes accepted by the police long before it is approved by the higher authorities (Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007).
It is crucial to realize that immigration policy is constantly improved and advanced in the interests of a country’s safety and prosperity. Meanwhile, immigration enforcement is an urgent measure that is typically provoked by a series of factors. Thus, Lewis and Provine suggest three conditions they believe to be determinants for immigration policy enforcement. To begin with, the primary reason for turning to some special immigration policy approaches is the extreme change of the indexes in the demographic reports. Moreover, the state’s geographical position can also present a conditioning factor for reinforcing the current immigration policy. The closer the community is to the border, the more endangered to the immigration influence it is. Besides, policy enforcement can be motivated by the government’s pursuing its interests such as maintaining the electorate’s support and preserving the region’s stability (Lewis et al., 2013). The police here play a connecting role of a participant that transforms the reality according to the social demand (Lewis and Ramakrishnan, 2007).
Lewis, Provine, Varsanyi, and Decker have carried out detailed research to estimate the extent of the influence each of the factors mentioned above has over the determination of the immigration policy line and its enforcement. According to the obtained results, the police actions are in a significant connection with the local authorities controlling. Thus, the policy plan and strategy are still set by the government, despite the existing opinion that the police departments are enabled to pursue their line. Moreover, the factor of the region’s proximity to the border has proven to be one of the most constituent conditions for the potential enforcements. The curious point about these insights lies in the fact that the presumption is relevant only regarding the Mexican border and is of minimal significance when it comes to the question of the Canadian frontier. The assumption concerning the political context’s impact seems to be rather ambiguous. The research has shown that the character of the dominant party, whether it is a democratic or a republican one, is of little difference to the issue of immigrants’ policy. Meanwhile, the structure of the representative electorate basis is of considerable importance for the region’s performance. Thus, the enforcement of the immigration policy is less likely to take place in those states where the immigrants constitute a considerable part of the electorate; whereas, the regions with the natives’ oriented electorate tend to show a more aggressive character of the immigration policy. As to the demographic indexes monitoring, this factor turned out to be almost irrelevant. The regions with a high immigrant population level prefer to avoid radical enforcement to maintain the social balance and to preserve the trust between the immigrants and the police departments. The research has also discovered an existing interconnection between the organizational traits of the police department and the enforcement measures taken. Thus, it has turned out that the lowest enforcement level is typical of the regions where a Hispanic police chief is present (Lewis et al., 2013). This fat can be explained by the necessity to fit the immigrants’ needs and requirements. The presence of Hispanics in the decision-making process is resonating with the mood of those social layers that are represented by the immigrants (Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007).
One should also note a great deal of trust some states put in the police’s integration in the immigration problem-solving. It is presumed that a wise immigration policy performed by the representatives of the police departments is likely to stabilize the current set of things and to reduce the number of illegal unregistered immigration cases. The law enforcement bodies are assumed to be in closer relation to the social class; thus, their cooperation is apt to be performed less complicatedly than the collaboration with the local authorities that requires a huge number of bureaucratic procedures. Furthermore, the police representatives tend to show a more creative and original approach to the immigrants’ problem-solving. Due to their awareness of the region and its traits, the policemen can perform a precise estimation of the current social mood environment, and, thus, indicate which measures are likely to work efficiently, and which would be better put off as being too radical or ineffective for the relevant state. It is, moreover, frequently suggested that the government should encourage the police departments to employ immigrant policemen to improve the level of trust between the police and the population. This offer is based on the assumption that an immigrant policeman is sure to know the situation from within and to have a perfect understanding of all the peculiarities and specificities of the relevant process. Such employees can be of significant assistance for performing the immigration policy and providing their colleagues with extra training. Besides, it is logical to suppose, that immigrants are more likely to agree to come into contact with their fellow countrymen, considering the former to be more reliable and trustworthy. The increase of social credence level can encourage the illegal immigrants to start solving their documents problems without being afraid of being misunderstood or severely punished (Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007). The described measures, though presumably efficient, have not been widely carried out so far, due to the lack of sufficiently precise policy targeting on the part of the local authorities. Numerous research claims that elected officials tend to avoid giving direct instructions on how the police representatives should act in particular cases. The absence of a put strategy results in the inefficient measures taken to regulate the immigrant environment and, then, provokes a need for urgent enforcement of the relevant policy. For this reason, some states show successful police performance, while others prove to be a complete failure in the question of immigration handling. Whereas society is used to blaming the police departments, experience proves that ineffective police performance is, as a rule, directly connected with poor management on the side of the governmental forces (Lewis et al., 2013).
Another curious insight was offered by Lewis and Ramakrishnan’s research via which they attempted to dispel the assumption that the policy enforcement leads to the loss of the immigrants’ trust in the police’s forces and make them avoid any kind of contact with the relevant department’s representatives. However, the carried-out research has shown that this hypothesis is completely faulty and ungrounded. According to the inquiries, the immigrants do not address the police department on time being unaware of the relevant department and the proper bodies they are to turn to for help. Thus, it is the complicated structure of the current police organization that makes the immigrants fall behind the deadline with the preparation of the required documents and registrations. On the contrary, when the enforcement measures are taken, the situation becomes more understandable and obvious – the immigrants are conscious of the relevant individuals that are responsible for providing them with the necessary instructions and assistance (Lewis & Ramakrishnan, 2007). Nevertheless, some police departments prefer not to interfere in the immigration controlling issues for fear of the negative influence this intervention might have on their crime prevention activity. Thus, the police bodies presume that a large number of immigrants will not dutifully report on the committed crime in case they do not have the relevant documents regarding their immigrant status. This assumption seems to be reasonable enough presuming that many people will prefer guarding their interests and security to fulfilling their civic duties. The strict division of the responsibilities allows the police to concentrate on their principal activity and to involve in the necessary cooperation of any representatives of the population regardless of their nationality.
Therefore, the careful analysis of the considered articles allows one to draw several important conclusions. First of all, the immigration policy line is currently determined by several departments, from the Senate to the local authorities. The lack of a common vision of the problem leads to the inequality of the enforcement measures taken throughout the country. Secondly, the integration of the police department in the immigration policy performance proves to be beneficial, despite the concerns and fears expressed by all the layers of the population. The police activity has shown to be rather effective as the representatives of this organ are perfectly aware of the current state of things in the relevant state or region which enables them to determine the proper measures. Moreover, the enforcement of immigration policy is normally motivated by the presence of several factors and conditions. According to the performed research, the principal reason for tightening the policy line is the geographic position of the relevant region and its proximity to the borders. Another important factor is the number of immigrants present within the electorate framework. The inner organizational characteristics of the police departments have also proved to be of huge significance. Thus, the presence of immigrants among police employees raises the level of social trust considerably. On the contrary, such factors as demographical reports and the leading party constituting the local authorities have not proved any difference to the immigration policy determination despite the common expectations. Therefore, the question of immigration policy enforcement is still open and requires further consideration. To improve the current state of things, one will have to straighten the collaboration between the controlling bodies in the interest of working out a sole strategy.
Reference List
Lewis, P., & and Ramakrishnan, K. (2007). Police Practices in Immigrant-Destination Cities Political Control or Bureaucratic Professionalism? Urban Affairs Review, 42(6), 874-900.
Lewis, P., Provine, D.M., Varsanyi, M., & Decker, S. (2013). Why Do (Some) City Police Departments Enforce Federal Immigration Law? Political, Demographic, and Organizational Influences on Local Choices. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 23(1), 1-25.