Crime on the U.S.-Mexico Border: The Effect of Undocumented Immigration and Border Enforcement

Resumen

In the 1990s, the U.S. border led the nation in the decline of property-related crimes, while violent crime rates fell twice as fast in the U.S. as in the median border county. This paper asks how changes in undocumented immigration and border enforcement have played a role in generating these divergent trends. We fi nd that migrant apprehensions are correlated with violent crime and that increased border enforcement has not had a deterrent effect on such crime. Rather, increased border enforcement in a sector has led to more violent crime in neighboring sectors. In contrast to the results for violent crime, property crime is not correlated with migrant apprehensions, and while there is some evidence that border enforcement has lowered property crime rates, this result is sensitive to the model’s specifi cation. Our fi ndings also indicate that the improved border economy over this period, specifi cally rapid job growth, played a signifi cant role in lowering property crime rates.RESUMENEn los años noventa, la frontera sur de Estados Unidos lideró a la nación en la caída de los crímenes sobre la propiedad, mientras que los crímenes violentos disminuyeron dos veces más rápido en todo el país que en los condados fronterizos. En este documento se encontró que las aprehensiones de inmigrantes están correlacionadas con los crímenes violentos y que el incremento en la seguridad fronteriza no ha tenido un efecto disuasivo en este tipo de crímenes, mientras que el incremento en la seguridad fronteriza en un sector ha propiciado la generación de más crímenes violentos en los sectores aledaños. En contraste con los resultados respecto a los crímenes violentos, los crímenes sobre la propiedad no están correlacionados con las aprehensiones de emigrantes. Además, existe cierta evidencia de que la seguridad fronteriza ha disminuido las tasas de crímenes sobre la propiedad, resultado sensible a la especifi cación del modelo. Los resultados también indican que la mejora en la economía fronteriza durante el período, específi camente el rápido crecimiento en el empleo, desempeñó un papel signifi cativo en la disminución de los crímenes sobre la propiedad.Albuquerque, Pedro, “Shared Legacies, Disparate Outcomes: Why American South Border Cities Turned the Tables on Crime and Their Mexican Sisters Did Not”, Texas A&M International University, 2004, mimeo.Andreas, Peter, Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York), 2000.Bean, Frank D., Thomas J. Espenshade, Michael J. White and Robert F. Dymowski, “Post-IRCA Changes in the Volume and Composition of Undocumented Migration to the United States”, in Frank D. Bean, Barry Edmonston and Jeffrey S. Passel (eds.), Undocumented Migration to the United States, Santa Monica, CA, RAND, 1990, pp.111-158.Bersin, Alan, “Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committe on the Judiciary”, April 23, 1997. Available at http://www.house.gov/judiciary/654.htm.Butcher, Kristin F. and Anne Morrison Piehl, “Recent Immigrants: Unexpected Implications for Crime and Incarceration”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 15, July, 1998a, pp. 654-679.———, “Cross-City Evidence on the Relationship Between Immigration and Crime”, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 17 (3), 1998b, pp. 457-493.Cornelius, Wayne A., “Death at the Border: Effi cacy and Unintended Consequences of U.S. Immigration Control Policy”, Population and Development Review, 27, December, 2001, pp. 661-685.——— and Jessa M. Lewis, Impact of U.S. Immigration Control Policies on Mexican Migration: The View from Sending Communities, La Jolla (CA) and Boulder (Col.), Center for Comparative Immigration Studies-UCSD/Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006.Dunn, Timothy, The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978- 1992, Austin, Center for Mexican American Studies-University of Texas at Austin, 1996.Ehrlich, Isaac and George D. Brower, “On the Issue of Causality in the Economic Model of Crime and Law Enforcement: Some Theoretical Considerations and Experimental Evidence”, AEA Papers and Proceedings, May, 1987, pp. 99-106.Eschbach, Karl, Jacqueline Hagan, Néstor Rodríguez, Rubén Hernández and Stanley Bailey, “Death at the Border,” International Migration Review, 33 (2), 1999, pp. 430-454.Espenshade, Thomas J., “Using INS Border Apprehension Data to Measure the Flow of Undocumented Migrants Crossing the U.S.- Mexico Frontier”, International Migration Review, 29 (2), 1995, pp. 545-565.Gathmann, Christina, “The Effects of Enforcement on Illegal Markets: Evidence from Migrant Smuggling along the Southwestern Border”, Stanford University, 2005, mimeo.Gould, Eric D., Bruce A. Weinberg and David B. Mustard, “Crime Rates and Local Labor Market Opportunities in the United States: 1979-1997”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 84, February, 2002, pp. 45-61.Grogger, Jeff, “Market Wages and Youth Crime”, Journal of Labor Economics, 16, October, 1998, pp. 756-791.Hagan, John and Alberto Palloni, “Immigration and Crime in the United States”, in James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston (eds.), The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration, Washington (D.C.), National Academy Press, 1998, pp. 367-387.Hanson, Gordon H. and Antonio Spilimbergo, “Undocumented Immigration, Border Enforcement, and Relative Wages: Evidence from  Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico Border”, American Economic Review, 89, December, 1999, pp. 1337-1357.Horowitz, Carl F., An Examination of U.S. Immigration Policy and Serious Crime, Washington (D.C.), Center for Immigration Studies, 2001. Ibarra, Ignacio, “Alien Smugglers Inc.”, The Arizona Daily Star, July 11, 1999.Levitt, Steven, “Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime”, American Economic Review, 87 (3), 1997, pp. 270-290.Liu, Samuel, “Essays on the Effects of Immigration on Education and Crime”, Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.Massey, Douglas S., Jorge Durand and Nolan J. Malone, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Free Trade, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2002.McCormick, Robert E. and Robert D. Tollison, “Crime on the Court”, Journal of Political Economy, 92, April, 1984, pp. 223-235.Miró, Ramón J., “Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico,1999-2002”, Library of Congress Federal Research Division, 2003.Available at http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-fi les/OrgCrime_Mexico.pdf.Mocan, Naci and Daniel Rees, “Economic Conditions, Deterrence and Juvenile Crime: Evidence from Micro Data”, NBER Working Paper 7405. Cambridge (MA), 1999.Orrenius, Pia M., “The Effect of U.S. Border Enforcement on the Crossing Behavior of Mexican Migrants”, in Jorge Durand and Douglas Massey (eds.), Behind Smoke and Mirrors: Research from the Mexican Migration Project, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2004.Reyes, Belinda I., Hans P. Johnson and Richard Van Swearingen, Holding the Line? The Effect of the Recent Border Build-up on Unauthorized Immigration, San Francisco, Public Policy Institute of California, 2002.Rico, Gabriela, “Border Patrol Pressure Leads to More Violence”, The Tucson Citizen, March 3, 2003,http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/3_3_03border_tension.html.Singer, Audrey and Douglas S. Massey, “The Social Process of Undocumented Border Crossing Among Mexican Migrants”, International Migration Review, 32 (3), 1997, pp. 561-592.Spener, David, “Migrant Smuggling as a Transnational Cottage Industry: Findings from the Tex-Mex Border Region”, 2002, Forthcoming, Journal of International Migration and Integration.U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, “U.S. Immigration Policy: Restoring Credibility”, Washington (D.C.), U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, 1994.U.S. General Accounting Offi ce, “Alien Smuggling: Management and Operational Improvements Needed to Address Growing Problem”, GAO/GGD-00-103,  Washington (D.C.), GAO, 2000.U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, “Statistical Yearbook ofthe INS”, Washington (D.C.), 2000. Available at http://uscis.gov/ graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ENF00yrbk/ENF2000list.htm.U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition, “Undocumented Immigrants in U.S.-Mexico Border Counties: Costs of Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice and Emergency Medical Services”, University of Arizona,Tucson, January, 2001.Wagner, Dennis, “Human Traffi cking’s Profi ts Spur Horrors”, The Arizona Republic, July 23, 2006.Wolf, Daniel, “Undocumented Aliens and Crime: The Case of San Diego”, Monograph Series 29, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies- University of California, San Diego, 1988.Fecha de recepción: 4 de enero de 2006Fecha de aceptación: 12 de septiembre de 2006

Imagen de portada

Palabras clave

• crime
• immigration
• border enforcement
• U.S.-Mexico border
• border counties

Cómo citar

Citas

1. Albuquerque, Pedro, “Shared Legacies, Disparate Outcomes: Why American South Border Cities Turned the Tables on Crime and Their Mexican Sisters Did Not”, Texas A&M International University, 2004, mimeo.
2. Andreas, Peter, Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide, Cornell University Press, Ithaca (New York), 2000.
3. Bean, Frank D., Thomas J. Espenshade, Michael J. White and Robert F. Dymowski, “Post-IRCA Changes in the Volume and Composition of Undocumented Migration to the United States”, in Frank D. Bean, Barry Edmonston and Jeffrey S. Passel (eds.), Undocumented Migration to the United States, Santa Monica, CA, RAND, 1990, pp.
4. -158.
5. Bersin, Alan, “Testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Committe on the Judiciary”, April 23, 1997. Available at http://www.house.gov/judiciary/654.htm.
6. Butcher, Kristin F. and Anne Morrison Piehl, “Recent Immigrants: Unexpected Implications for Crime and Incarceration”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 15, July, 1998a, pp. 654-679.
7. ———, “Cross-City Evidence on the Relationship Between Immigration and Crime”, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 17 (3), 1998b, pp. 457-493.
8. Cornelius, Wayne A., “Death at the Border: Effi cacy and Unintended Consequences of U.S. Immigration Control Policy”, Population and Development Review, 27, December, 2001, pp. 661-685.
9. ——— and Jessa M. Lewis, Impact of U.S. Immigration Control Policies on Mexican Migration: The View from Sending Communities, La Jolla (CA) and Boulder (Col.), Center for Comparative Immigration Studies-UCSD/Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006.
10. Dunn, Timothy, The Militarization of the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1978- 1992, Austin, Center for Mexican American Studies-University of Texas at Austin, 1996.
11. Ehrlich, Isaac and George D. Brower, “On the Issue of Causality in the Economic Model of Crime and Law Enforcement: Some Theoretical Considerations and Experimental Evidence”, AEA Papers and Proceedings, May, 1987, pp. 99-106.
12. Eschbach, Karl, Jacqueline Hagan, Néstor Rodríguez, Rubén Hernández and Stanley Bailey, “Death at the Border,” International Migration Review, 33 (2), 1999, pp. 430-454.
13. Espenshade, Thomas J., “Using INS Border Apprehension Data to Measure the Flow of Undocumented Migrants Crossing the U.S.- Mexico Frontier”, International Migration Review, 29 (2), 1995, pp. 545-565.
14. Gathmann, Christina, “The Effects of Enforcement on Illegal Markets: Evidence from Migrant Smuggling along the Southwestern Border”, Stanford University, 2005, mimeo.
15. Gould, Eric D., Bruce A. Weinberg and David B. Mustard, “Crime Rates and Local Labor Market Opportunities in the United States: 1979-1997”, The Review of Economics and Statistics, 84, February, 2002, pp. 45-61.
16. Grogger, Jeff, “Market Wages and Youth Crime”, Journal of Labor Economics, 16, October, 1998, pp. 756-791.
17. Hagan, John and Alberto Palloni, “Immigration and Crime in the United States”, in James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston (eds.), The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration, Washington (D.C.), National Academy Press, 1998, pp. 367-387.
18. Hanson, Gordon H. and Antonio Spilimbergo, “Undocumented Immigration, Border Enforcement, and Relative Wages: Evidence from Apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico Border”, American Economic Review, 89, December, 1999, pp. 1337-1357.
19. Horowitz, Carl F., An Examination of U.S. Immigration Policy and Serious Crime, Washington (D.C.), Center for Immigration Studies, 2001. Ibarra, Ignacio, “Alien Smugglers Inc.”, The Arizona Daily Star, July 11, 1999.
20. Levitt, Steven, “Using Electoral Cycles in Police Hiring to Estimate the Effect of Police on Crime”, American Economic Review, 87 (3), 1997, pp. 270-290.
21. Liu, Samuel, “Essays on the Effects of Immigration on Education and Crime”, Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000.
22. Massey, Douglas S., Jorge Durand and Nolan J. Malone, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Free Trade, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2002.
23. McCormick, Robert E. and Robert D. Tollison, “Crime on the Court”, Journal of Political Economy, 92, April, 1984, pp. 223-235.
24. Miró, Ramón J., “Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity in Mexico,1999-2002”, Library of Congress Federal Research Division, 2003.Available at http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-fi les/OrgCrime_Mexico.pdf.
25. Mocan, Naci and Daniel Rees, “Economic Conditions, Deterrence and Juvenile Crime: Evidence from Micro Data”, NBER Working Paper 7405. Cambridge (MA), 1999.
26. Orrenius, Pia M., “The Effect of U.S. Border Enforcement on the Crossing Behavior of Mexican Migrants”, in Jorge Durand and Douglas Massey (eds.), Behind Smoke and Mirrors: Research from the Mexican Migration Project, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 2004.
27. Reyes, Belinda I., Hans P. Johnson and Richard Van Swearingen, Holding the Line? The Effect of the Recent Border Build-up on Unauthorized Immigration, San Francisco, Public Policy Institute of California, 2002.
28. Rico, Gabriela, “Border Patrol Pressure Leads to More Violence”, The Tucson Citizen, March 3, 2003,http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/3_3_03border_tension.html.
29. Singer, Audrey and Douglas S. Massey, “The Social Process of Undocumented Border Crossing Among Mexican Migrants”, International Migration Review, 32 (3), 1997, pp. 561-592.
30. Spener, David, “Migrant Smuggling as a Transnational Cottage Industry: Findings from the Tex-Mex Border Region”, 2002, Forthcoming, Journal of International Migration and Integration.
31. U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, “U.S. Immigration Policy: Restoring Credibility”, Washington (D.C.), U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, 1994.
32. U.S. General Accounting Offi ce, “Alien Smuggling: Management and Operational Improvements Needed to Address Growing Problem”, GAO/GGD-00-103, Washington (D.C.), GAO, 2000.
33. U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, “Statistical Yearbook ofthe INS”, Washington (D.C.), 2000. Available at http://uscis.gov/ graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/ENF00yrbk/ENF2000list.htm.
34. U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition, “Undocumented Immigrants in U.S.-Mexico Border Counties: Costs of Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice and Emergency Medical Services”, University of Arizona,Tucson, January, 2001.
35. Wagner, Dennis, “Human Traffi cking’s Profi ts Spur Horrors”, The Arizona Republic, July 23, 2006.
36. Wolf, Daniel, “Undocumented Aliens and Crime: The Case of San Diego”, Monograph Series 29, Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies- University of California, San Diego, 1988.
37. Fecha de recepción: 4 de enero de 2006
38. Fecha de aceptación: 12 de septiembre de 2006