Sanctuary Cities: The Politics of Refuge

Description

The accidental shooting of Kathryn Steinle in July of 2015 by an undocumented immigrant ignited a firestorm of controversy around sanctuary cities, which are municipalities where officials are prohibited from inquiring into the immigration status of residents. Some decline immigration detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While sanctuary cities have been in existence since the 1980s, the Steinle shooting and the presidency of Donald Trump have brought them renewed attention and raised a number of questions. How have these policies evolved since the 1980s and how has the media framed them? Do sanctuary policies "breed crime" as some have argued, or do they help to politically incorporate immigrant populations? What do Americans think about sanctuary cities, and have their attitudes changed in recent years? How are states addressing the conflict between sanctuary cities and the federal government? In one of the first comprehensive examinations of sanctuary cities, Loren Collingwood and Benjamin Gonzalez O'Brien show that sanctuary policies have no discernible effect on crime rates; rather, anti-sanctuary state laws may undercut communities' trust in law enforcement. Indeed, sanctuary policies do have the potential to better incorporate immigrant populations into the larger city, with both Latino police force representation and Latino voter turnout increasing as a result. Despite this, public opinion on sanctuary cities remains sharply divided and has become intensely partisanized. Looking at public opinion data, media coverage, and the evolution of sanctuary policies from the 1980s to 2010s, the authors show that conservatives have increasingly drawn on anecdotal evidence to link violent crime to the larger debate about undocumented immigration. This has, in turn, provided them an electoral advantage among conservative voters who often see undocumented immigrants as a threat and has led to a push for anti-sanctuary policies in conservative states that effectively preempt local initiatives aimed at immigrant incorporation. Ultimately, this book finds that sanctuary cities provide important protection for immigrants, helping them to become part of the social and political fabric of the United States, with no empirical support for the negative consequences conservatives and anti-immigrant activists so often claim. Cover Sanctuary Cities: The Politics of Refuge Copyright Dedication Acknowledgement Contents List of Figures List of Tables Introduction Defining Sanctuary The Immigrant Threat and Sanctuary Cities 1: The Sanctuary City in HistoricalPerspective The Curious Case of Special Order Number 40 The Sanctuary Movement Seattle and Berkeley Seattle Berkeley September 11 and the Rise of the Modern Sanctuary City The Presidential Politics of Sanctuary Cities: 1980–2015 Sanctuary after Trump Conclusion 2: Media Coverage of Sanctuary Cities, 1980–2017 Agenda Setting, Framing, and the Media’s Influence on Public Opinion Framing Sanctuary: Media and the Pictures in Our Heads Print Media Coverage of Sanctuary Issue Framing in Print Media Coverage, 1980–1989 Issue Framing in Print Media Coverage, 1990–1999 Issue Framing in Print Media Coverage, 2000–2009 Issue Framing in Media Coverage, 2010–2017 Partisan Framing in Print Media Coverage, 1980–2017 Framing Sanctuary in Television Coverage, 1980–2017 Conclusion 3: Understanding Public Opinion on Sanctuary Cities What Drives Public Opinion on Sanctuary Policies? California and Texas: Two States, Two Very Different Approaches Background Evaluating Partisan Learning vs. Racial Learning California Texas Evaluating Immigrant (or Racial) Threat versus Criminal Threat Conclusion 4: Legislative Expression: Sanctuary Policymaking in the U.S. States Background Threat, Ideology, State Institutions, and Economic Anxiety Racial/Latino Threat Political and Ideological Orientation State Institutions Criminal Threat Economic Anxiety Data and Methods Antisanctuary California SJR 4 Rhode Island H 5394 Prosanctuary Vermont HJR 2 California SR 22 Analysis ALEC Case Study Conclusion 5: Sanctuary Cities, Crime, and Incorporation The Myth of Immigrant Criminality and Sanctuary Policy Potential Negative Outcomes Sanctuary City Crime Analysis ICE Detainers and Crime Senate Bill 4 and 911 Calls in El Paso, Texas Data and Methods—SB-4 and Behavioral Outcomes Analysis Positive Outcomes Data and Methods Analysis Conclusion 6: Sanctuary Cities: The Way Forward Appendix A California Data and Methodology for Hypothesis 1 and 2 Texas Data and Methodology for Hypotheses 1 and 2 Texas Data and Methodology for Hypotheses 3 and 4 Additional Models Appendix B Public Opinion Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, 2016 CCES Appendix C Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 References Index