Christopher Carlberg · April 2009
77 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 740 (2009)
As long-term residents of a country that has not authorized their presence, undocumented immigrants in the United States live in “shadow populations” on the periphery of their communities, in constant fear of deportation. These undocumented immigrants are frequently the victims of crime, fraud, and exploitation because criminals know they are easy targets. The immigrants rarely report crimes committed against them to police because they fear the local law enforcement will deport them. When the crime is not reported, there is no way for the police to capture the perpetrators. Not only do the undocumented immigrants continue to be victimized, but the criminals remain on the streets, endangering other undocumented immigrants and citizens alike. It is in the best interests of local communities to encourage undocumented immigrants to report crimes to local law enforcement.
Numerous local governments have tried to find a practical solution to the problem of undocumented immigrants who fear interaction with local police officers by enacting various forms of noncooperation policies. Noncooperation policies limit the role that local law enforcement plays in enforcing federal immigration law. Noncooperation policies are intended to allow immigrants to report crimes to local law enforcement, and to aid in investigating crime without fear of deportation. A common type of these policies and laws instruct local law enforcement and government agencies not to inquire into any resident’s immigration status so that there will be no information to pass on to federal immigration law enforcement. These policies help cities combat crime with the aid of undocumented immigrants and also focus the local governments’ limited resources on fighting crime instead of controlling illegal immigration, which is a federal responsibility.
Noncooperation policies can be beneficial to states and localities by encouraging undocumented immigrants to emerge from “shadow populations” on the periphery of communities, and to report crimes and assist local law enforcement in the investigation of criminal activity. Because most jurisdictions have unique noncooperation policies, however, undocumented immigrants do not understand the effects of the policies in varying jurisdictions. Fearful of possible deportation, they choose to play it safe by not reporting crimes. States and localities should agree to enact a comprehensive and uniform noncooperation policy that will be consistent in every jurisdiction that decides to adopt such a policy, allowing it to be better understood and publicized, and therefore more effective.
Part I of this Note explains how the noncooperation laws of today originated out of the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, when churches and local governments worked to protect refugees from Central America. This Part further discusses the federal response to the sanctuary movement and the noncooperation policies that have evolved and are in force today. Part II will analyze the effectiveness of noncooperation laws in encouraging undocumented immigrants to report crimes to local police. This Part will also identify the problem that noncooperation laws are poorly understood by undocumented immigrants, thereby making the laws less effective. Part III of this Note proposes that all states and localities that decide to enact noncooperation policies should agree to enact the same uniform noncooperation policy, which would be better understood and publicized in the undocumented immigrant community. Additionally, this Part examines counterarguments to this proposal, such as the appropriateness of a federal statutory solution instead of this locally based proposal.
