Life as an Undocumented Immigrant: How Restrictive Local Immigration Policies Affect Daily Life

This report focuses on the on the harmful effects on communities of anti-immigrant state laws such as Arizona's S.B. 1070 and Alabama's H.B. 56 or restrictive local ordinances such as those in Prince William County, Virginia, or Freemont, Nebraska. It asks: What happens to undocumented immigrants after the passage of these laws? What is life like for unauthorized immigrants in these areas, and how do they mitigate the harshness of these ordinances? What happens to the larger communities—documented and not, immigrant and not—and how do these laws impact the ability of law enforcement professionals to keep our communities safe?

"Life as an Undocumented Immigrant" presents one of the first studies of immigrants' responses to local restrictions and enforcement. It demonstrates that exclusionary policies and ramped-up federal enforcement inhibit immigrant incorporation into their communities. Immigrants react to legal threats and hostile reception by going underground: They hold negative perceptions of local law enforcement, associate routine activities such as driving and walking with anxiety and the risk of deportation and develop strategies of avoidance and fitting in to mitigate the discovery of their unauthorized status.

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