The Impact of ICE Partnerships On Everyday Life

By Genesis Gonzalez ’28, OCW

Tom K. Wong and Karina Shklyan examine how cooperation between local police and ICE may shape undocumented immigrants’ everyday decisions in the United States. In a survey experiment with 594 respondents from a probability-based sample, the researchers tested how people responded to learning that local law enforcement worked with ICE. Respondents said they would be less likely to report crimes, attend public events where police might be present, use services requiring personal information, or look for new work. The study suggests enforcement partnerships can affect trust and access to community institutions beyond direct encounters with the immigration system.