Newsletter of the American Political Science Association's Organized Section on Migration and Citizenship, 5:2 (Summer 2017), 48 pp.

Authors:  Els De Graauw et al

This is one in a series of themed newsletters produced by the Section on Migration and Citizenship of the American Political Science Association. The issue contains six articles looking at the role of U.S. municipalities in either fostering the integration of immigrants and refugees or excluding them from community life. The articles explore a range of policy areas, including policing, sanctuary policies, immigrant entrepreneurship, language access, voting, and participation in community life. In her introduction, Els de Graauw of City University of New York provides an overview of the articles and notes that they "highlight some of the cutting-edge research" in their respective policy areas. One contributor is Tom K. Wong, who shows that counties with so-called sanctuary policies have lower crime rates and stronger economies compared to non-sanctuary counties. Marie Provine and her colleagues examine the formidable barriers that the Trump administration faces in securing the cooperation of local law enforcement in immigration enforcement, including the widespread commitment to community policing practices, officer autonomy and discretion, and the lack of incentives for local law enforcement to follow federal immigration directives. Cathy Yang Liu and Xi Huang examine the range of approaches and strategies employed by local municipalities to encourage immigrant entrepreneurship; and Ron Hayduk and Kathleen Coll discuss efforts to restore noncitizen voting in local elections, a practice that was common in the 19th century. Taken together, according to de Graauw, the articles "raise important questions about not only the power of municipalities vis-à-vis the nation state...but also the effect that municipal politics and policies have on immigrants and refugees and the communities of which they are part" (Nicholas V. Montalto, Diversity Dynamics).