Regional Immigration Enforcement

Authors

Fatma Marouf, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2022

Journal Title

Washington University Law Review

ISSN

0043-0862

Abstract

Regional disparities in immigration enforcement have existed for decades, yet they remain largely overlooked in immigration law scholarship. This Article theorizes that bottom-up pressure from states and localities, combined with top-down pressures and policies established by the President, produce these regional disparities. The Article then provides an empirical analysis demonstrating enormous variations in how Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s twenty-four field offices engage in federal enforcement around the United States. By analyzing data related to detainers, arrests, removals, and detention across these field offices, the Article demonstrates substantial differences between field offices located in sanctuary and anti-sanctuary regions, as well as variations within each of those groups. In order to promote more equitable and transparent enforcement, the Article offers recommendations regarding agency guidelines, rulemaking, performance metrics, and institutional designs, examining the strengths and limitations of these approaches.

First Page

1593

Last Page

1672

Num Pages

80

Volume Number

99

Issue Number

5

Publisher

Washington University School of Law

Recommended Citation

Fatma Marouf, Regional Immigration Enforcement, 99 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1593 (2022).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1583

File Type

PDF