Spillover Effects: Immigrant Policing and Government Skepticism in Matters of Health for Latinos

• Published in: Public administration review 2018-05, Vol.78 (3), p.432-443
• Main Authors: Nichols, Vanessa Cruz, Pedraza, Francisco I., LeBrón, Alana M. W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bureaucracy; Credibility; Deployment; Enforcement; Health care policy; Health information; Hispanic Americans; Immigrants; Immigration; Immigration policy; Latin American cultural groups; Law; Noncitizens; Policing; Politics; Public goods; Research Article
• ISSN: 0033-3352; 1540-6210
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12916

To what extent do people become less trusting of the government under threatening policy contexts? The authors find evidence that Secure Communities, a bureaucratic program that enhances immigrant policing through collaboration between local law and immigration enforcement agencies, spurs mistrust among Latinos but not non-Latinos. This article focuses on the politics of immigration and health, two issue areas marked by large-scale bureaucratic developments over the last 50 years. The authors argue that a major consequence of expanding immigrant policing is its trickle-down effect on how individuals view public institutions charged with the provision of public goods, such as health information. The results indicate that Latinos in locales where immigrant policing is most intense express lower levels of trust in government as a source of health information. Through a policy feedback lens, the findings suggest that the state's deployment of immigrant policing conveys more widespread lessons about the trustworthiness of government.