Don't make cops squeal on undocumented workers

Cities that took a hands-off approach saw crime drop.

from the April 24, 2008 edition

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Financial cost aside, enforcing immigration law demands a considerable time commitment on the part of local law enforcement. For departments already stretched by dwindling resources, pursuing undocumented immigrants detracts from responsibilities like cracking down on violent crime.

What's more important: going after criminals who murder, assault, and rob US citizens; or tracking down people whose most serious offense is crossing the border illegally?

Kids lose out, too. There are approximately 5 million US children with at least one undocumented parent. When reforms like Rhode Island's are implemented, undocumented parents tend to pull their kids out of programs like free healthcare and school lunches, for fear of attracting attention.

Thankfully not all cities and states are taking such a hard-line approach. At the beginning of 2006, the mayor of New Haven, Conn., signed an order forbidding municipal police from enforcing federal immigration law or inquiring about any resident's citizenship.

The impact of the reform was immediate. In the first year that the policy was implemented, major crime fell by 18 percent in New Haven's immigrant neighborhood. In the world of police statistics, that kind of single-year drop is almost unheard of. The district commander attributes the drop to immigrants' willingness to work with police. "You do a lot of problem solving by having that trust with the community," he said.

Rhode Island's police do not seem worried about losing that trust though. Last week, the police chiefs association voted overwhelmingly to endorse Carcieri's reform. The president said the decision came after a "healthy discussion."

The law-enforcement approaches of Rhode Island and New Haven could not be more different. Where one eradicates immigrants, the other integrates them. Where one enforces immigration law, the other shuns it. But for all their differences, the two orders are rooted in the same problem. As Carcieri put it, "The federal government has not effectively addressed the complex issue of illegal immigration."

As the number of immigrants in the US continues to grow, the need for comprehensive immigration reform is more urgent than ever. But until the federal government steps up to address the problem, states and cities will be forced to come up with their own solutions. When they do, they should follow the smarter, more practical leadership of cities like New Haven, and not the dangerous, costly reforms of Rhode Island. That's the way to make America's neighborhoods safer. And that's the kind of leadership Americans deserve.  

Nik Steinberg is a master's student in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

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