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How Partisan Is Local Law Enforcement? Evidence from Sheriff Cooperation with Immigration Authorities

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  • THOMPSON, DANIEL M.

Abstract

Is local law enforcement conducted differently based on the party in power? I offer an answer to this question by focusing on a case in which law enforcement is elected and has meaningful independent discretion: sheriff compliance with federal requests to detain unauthorized immigrants. Using a regression discontinuity design in a new dataset of over 3,200 partisan sheriff elections and administrative data on sheriff behavior, I find that Democrats and Republicans comply at nearly the same rate. These results contribute to ongoing research into the role that partisanship plays in local policy making, indicating that law enforcement officers make similar choices across party lines even when they have broad authority. I also present evidence that sheriffs hold more similar immigration enforcement views across party than the general public, highlighting the role of candidate entry and selection in determining the level of partisan polarization.

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  • Thompson, Daniel M., 2020. "How Partisan Is Local Law Enforcement? Evidence from Sheriff Cooperation with Immigration Authorities," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(1), pages 222-236, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:114:y:2020:i:1:p:222-236_15
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    Cited by:

    1. Emily M. Farris & Mirya R. Holman, 2023. "Sheriffs, right‐wing extremism, and the limits of U.S. federalism during a crisis," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 104(2), pages 59-68, March.
    2. Yohei Yamaguchi & Ken Yahagi, 2024. "Law enforcement and political misinformation," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 36(1), pages 3-36, January.
    3. Chika O. Okafor, 2021. "Prosecutor Politics: The Impact of Election Cycles on Criminal Sentencing in the Era of Rising Incarceration," Papers 2110.09169, arXiv.org.
    4. Pauline Grosjean & Federico Masera & Hasin Yousaf, 2023. "Inflammatory Political Campaigns and Racial Bias in Policing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(1), pages 413-463.
    5. Christos Mavridis & Orestis Troumpounis & Maurizio Zanardi, 2021. "Police Militarization and Local Elections," School of Economics Discussion Papers 0221, School of Economics, University of Surrey.
    6. Adams, Ian T. & McCrain, Joshua & Schiff, Daniel S. & Schiff, Kaylyn Jackson & Mourtgos, Scott M., 2022. "Public Pressure or Peer Influence: What Shapes Police Executives' Views on Civilian Oversight?," SocArXiv mdu96, Center for Open Science.
    7. Gouvêa, Raphael & Girardi, Daniele, 2021. "Partisanship and local fiscal policy: Evidence from Brazilian cities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).

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