2017/05/07 by Benjamin Gonzalez O’Brien, Loren Collingwood, Stephen Omar El‐Khatib · 3 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Migration, Refugees, and Integration #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Migration, Health and Trauma
paper · doi:10.1177/1078087417704974
openalex publication_date 2017/05/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/24
This article assesses the claim that sanctuary cities—defined as cities that expressly forbid city officials or police departments from inquiring into an individual’s immigration status—are associated with post hoc increases in crime. We employ a causal inference matching strategy to compare similarly situated cities where key variables are the same across the cities except the sanctuary status of the city. We find no statistically discernible difference in violent crime, rape, or property crime rates across the cities. Our findings provide evidence that sanctuary policies have no effect on crime rates, despite narratives to the contrary. The potential benefits of sanctuary cities, such as better incorporation of the undocumented community and cooperation with police, thus have little cost for the cities in question in terms of crime.