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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

A National Study Of Immigration Detention In The United States, Emily Ryo, Ian Peacock Oct 2018

A National Study Of Immigration Detention In The United States, Emily Ryo, Ian Peacock

Emily Ryo

Amidst growing reports of abuses and rights violations in immigration detention, the Trump administration has sought to expand the use of immigration detention to facilitate its deportation policy. This study offers the first comprehensive empirical analysis of U.S. immigration detention at the national level. Drawing on administrative records and geocoded data pertaining to all noncitizens who were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in fiscal year 2015, we examine who the detainees are, where they were held, and what happened to them.


Beyond The Walls: The Importance Of Community Contexts In Immigration Detention, Emily Ryo, Ian Peacock Dec 2017

Beyond The Walls: The Importance Of Community Contexts In Immigration Detention, Emily Ryo, Ian Peacock

Emily Ryo

Immigration detention facilities are commonly assumed to be insulated microcosms that maintain their existence separate and apart from the surrounding communities.  Yet, detention facilities are not hermetically sealed institutions.  Drawing on unique and comprehensive data pertaining to all individuals held in immigration detention in the United States in fiscal year 2015, this study explores for the first time the importance of community contexts in immigration detention.  Our multivariate analyses show a significant relationship between the characteristics of communities in which the facilities are located and detention length for individuals who were released pending the completion of their removal proceedings.  Specifically, …


Predicting Danger In Immigration Courts, Emily Ryo Dec 2017

Predicting Danger In Immigration Courts, Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo

Every year, the US government detains thousands of noncitizens in removal proceedings on the basis that they might pose a threat to public safety if released during the pendency of their removal proceedings. Using original audio recording data on immigration bond hearings, this study examines immigration judges’ determinations regarding which noncitizens pose a danger to the community. My multivariate analysis that controls for a variety of detainee background characteristics and criminal conviction-related measures produced three main findings. First, I find that Central Americans are more likely to be deemed dangerous than non-Central Americans. Second, I find that detainees with attorneys …


Representing Immigrants: The Role Of Lawyers In Immigration Bond Hearings, Emily Ryo Dec 2017

Representing Immigrants: The Role Of Lawyers In Immigration Bond Hearings, Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo

Do immigration lawyers matter, and if so, how? Drawing on a rich source of audio recording data, this study addresses these questions in the context of U.S. immigration bond hearings—a critical stage in the removal process for noncitizens who have been apprehended by U.S. immigration officials. First, my regression analysis using a matched sample of legally represented and unrepresented detainees shows that represented detainees have significantly higher odds of being granted bond. Second, I explore whether legal representation affects judicial efficiency and find no evidence of such a relationship. Third, I examine procedural and substantive differences between represented and unrepresented …


The Promise Of A Subject-Centered Approach To Understanding Immigration Noncompliance, Emily Ryo Dec 2016

The Promise Of A Subject-Centered Approach To Understanding Immigration Noncompliance, Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo

Unauthorized immigrants and immigration enforcement are once again at the center of heated public debates and reform agendas. This paper examines the importance of applying a subject-centered approach to understanding immigration noncompliance and to developing effective, ethical, and equitable immigration policies. In general, a subject-centered approach focuses on the beliefs, values, and perceptions of individuals whose behavior the law seeks to regulate. This approach has been widely used in non-immigration law contexts to produce a richer and more nuanced understanding of legal noncompliance. By contrast, the subject-centered approach has been an overlooked and underappreciated tool in the study of immigration …


Fostering Legal Cynicism Through Immigration Detention, Emily Ryo Dec 2016

Fostering Legal Cynicism Through Immigration Detention, Emily Ryo

Emily Ryo

Every year, tens of thousands of noncitizens in removal proceedings are held and processed through an expanding web of immigration detention facilities across the United States. The use of immigration detention is expected to dramatically increase under the Trump administration’s mass deportation policy. I argue that this civil confinement system may serve a critical socio-legal function that has escaped the attention of policymakers, scholars, and the public alike. Using extensive original data on long-term immigrant detainees, I explore how immigration detention might function as a site of legal socialization that helps to promote or reinforce widespread legal cynicism among immigrant …