Behind Crimmigration

“A rich critique of the actors and organizations in North Carolina that facilitate crimmigration. . . . The text expertly demonstrates how all crimmigration is local. . . . [and] Arriaga excels in taking readers to lesser-known settings and contexts to consider how 287(g) was conceptualized and contested through the everyday machinations of local government and electoral politics”—Sociology of Race and Ethnicity

“An important regional study on the criminalization of immigration. . . . This volume will interest students in the fields of crimmigration, criminology, sociology, legal studies, and immigration studies. Highly recommended”—CHOICE

"Arriaga offers a novel and important contribution to contemporary research examining the interconnectedness of local law enforcement officials (LEOs) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”—Ethnic and Racial Studies

“Behind Crimmigration explores the racialized effects and human costs of a local law enforcement agency’s decision to collaborate with ICE. . . . [A]n essential window into present politics.”—Inquest

“Behind Crimmigration is a deep dive into the messy local politics of immigration policy in the United States today. Through on-the-ground research and insightful analysis, Felicia Arriaga shows us that immigration policies—and immigration politics—develop far from Washington. Taking us into county commission meetings in North Carolina and giving us a close view of sheriff’s departments' operations throughout the state, Arriaga uncovers the local politics that turn local cops into immigration agents. ICE calls them force multipliers, but to migrants across North Carolina, they are the entry point into the immigration prison and deportation pipeline—and the object of community resistance.”—César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, Ohio State University, and author of Migrating to Prison and Crimmigration Law.

“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for scholars and students to have access to the story Felicia Arriaga tells us about local immigration law enforcement in North Carolina. Based on a wealth of data and field research, Arriaga’s arguments about racialized social control add to the conversations surrounding immigration enforcement and tell a powerful story at the same time.”—Tanya Golash-Boza, author of Deported: Immigrant Policing, Disposable Labor and Global Capitalism