Year: 2019
Type: review
Abstract: During the summer of 2018, the US government detained thousands of migrant parents and their separated children pursuant to its zero-tolerance policy at the United States–Mexico border. The ensuing media storm generated unprecedented public awareness about immigration detention. The recency of this public attention belies a long-standing immigration enforcement practice that has generated a growing body of research in the past couple of decades. I take stock of this research, focusing on the causes, conditions, and consequences of immigration detention in the United States. I also discuss critical tasks for future research, including ( a) examining the role of local governments, the private prison industry, and decision makers responsible for release decisions in maintaining the detention system; ( b) extending the field of inquiry to less-visible detainee populations and detention facility guards and staff, for a fuller understanding of detention conditions; and ( c) investigating not only direct but also indirect consequences of detention.
Author: Emily Ryo
Institution: University of Southern California
Language: English
Subfield: Urban Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Carnegie Corporation of New York
OpenAlex ID: W2945860378