|
Abstract: The article analyzes the federal versus local struggle over deportation's deterrent effect on crime reporting by unauthorized aliens. There are now 11.1 million unauthorized aliens in the U.S., including five percent of American workers. They are victims of more than one million crimes per year. The Supreme Court has held that unauthorized aliens enjoy certain constitutional rights. Unauthorized aliens fear, however, that turning to local police for protection would result in their deportation by federal immigration authorities. The article describes how unscrupulous employers, common criminals, battering spouses, corrupt government officials, border vigilantes, and others exploit unauthorized alien fear of calling the police. The article's analysis reverberates far beyond immigration law. The Supreme Court's new federalism, including the anti-commandeering doctrine, and conservative control of the federal executive and legislative branches have activists looking to the local level to advance civil rights agendas on issues including gay marriage, medical marijuana, and the war on terror. The federal versus local struggle over deportation's deterrent effect on crime reporting by unauthorized aliens contains important lessons for these other causes.
|