Sanctuary Ordinances

Sanctuary Ordinances fills a critical void in our knowledge of the treatment of immigrants in the U.S. This book assesses the response to in-migration in over 3,000 U.S. counties and focuses on county level data, an important unit of analysis for understanding government, law enforcement and citizen responses to immigrants. The use of mixed methods is one of the many strengths of this work, and the book focuses both on historical and contemporary pressures on the decisions to be a “welcoming” or “exclusionary” jurisdiction. This is a must-read for those who study criminal justice, as much of the responsibility for responding to the challenges of immigration is left to fall on the criminal justice system.

-- Scott H. Decker, Arizona State University

Moving forward, I cannot imagine any class about the social and political landscape of the United States, nor any study or commentary on immigration, that does not include a major conversation about Lovrich, Pierce, and Simon’s Sanctuary Ordinances. It is as indispensable to this generation of social scientists as was Blalock’s seminal Toward a Theory of Minority-group Relations to its generation.

-- Jonathon A. Cooper

Sanctuary Ordinances: The Contemporary Politics of Immigrant Assimilation in America is an important contribution to the growing body of research on sanctuary localities, as well as the immigration policy literature more broadly. Through their use of a mixed-methods approach, the authors are able to create a more holistic picture of the factors influencing pro- or anti-sanctuary positions. The authors build on the existing literature by considering the role of pro-social attitudes in shaping individual positions on sanctuary policies, a variable that is often overlooked in the existing scholarship. Perhaps most importantly, this study is anchored in a historical analysis, where path dependence and the effect of local political and social culture is incorporated to paint a more complex picture of the debate around these policies. This book will be of great interest to a broad range of academics in political science, criminal justice, sociology, history, and public policy, as well as lay audiences with an interest in the modern debate around immigration.

-- Benjamin Gonzalez O’Brien, San Diego State University

Sanctuary Ordinances: The Contemporary Politics of Immigrant Assimilation in America is a powerful assessment of an important and divisive issue facing the U.S. today. Written by three distinguished scholars with expertise in civic engagement, public affairs and local government, this text presents a discussion of the issues surrounding local governments’ reactions to Latino in-migration. The mixed method techniques, including case studies in Pennsylvania and Idaho, provide a comprehensive examination of the dualistic views around this topic. The resulting assessment captures the complexity of sentiments on immigration policy and makes a substantial contribution to scholarly understanding of immigration and sanctuary ordinances in the contemporary U.S. This book fills a needed gap for understanding U.S. society today and in the future.

-- Donna L. Lybecker, Idaho State University

Sanctuary Ordinances: The Contemporary Politics of Immigrant Assimilation in America asks a simple question: why do some communities in the U.S. embrace the arrival of immigrants, while others demonstrate great resistance? The authors provide a very rich answer. They do so through the analyses of national and local public opinion surveys, quantitative modelling of over 3,000 U.S. counties’ policies regarding immigration, and two qualitative in-depth municipal case studies. Drawing from a variety of disciplines and research traditions, Lovrich, Pierce and Christopher Simon provide us with a much deeper understanding of the dynamics of local government behavior on an issue that has periodically reappeared at the center of the nation's political arena in recent decades. Anyone with a genuine interest in immigrants, immigration policy, and local governance should read this book.

-- William D. Schreckhise, University of Arkansas

The Trump administration has engineered a series of changes to federal immigration policy that are highly controversial, and arguably discriminatory. In many localities the influx of immigrants, particularly Hispanics, has stirred both positive and negative sentiments toward these newcomers. Despite the widespread nature of these developments we know relatively little about how structural and individual characteristics shape people’s favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward sanctuary policy. Nor do we know how the intertwining of public sentiments and policy adoption may influence the future of local communities. Sanctuary Ordinances addresses these knowledge gaps in the current literature. This book is timely, important, theoretically and methodologically rich, and exceptionally well-written.

Overall, the Lovrich, Pierce and Simon book represents a compelling and thoughtful analysis of heated debates and conflicting empirical findings regarding contemporary immigration policy and immigrant assimilation in the U.S. Given the authors’ extensive teaching and research experience in the subject area, Sanctuary Ordinances will serve an indispensable reference for those who wish to understand the connections between structural and individual characteristics and public sentiments toward immigration policy. This book will be of particular interest to policy makers, local officials and police administrators striving for a fair and just approach for the enforcement of federal immigrant policy as they seek the development and maintenance of vital, safe and healthy communities.

-- Ivan Y. Sun, University of Dela