Police Arrests in a Time of Uncertainty: The Impact of 287(g) on Arrests in a New Immigrant Gateway

Using a novel data set created from police narratives between 2005 and 2010, this article examines whether and how police reporting varies before and after the implementation of 287(g), a local enforcement program located in Nashville’s Davidson County, a new immigrant gateway city. We examine patterns of symbolic language used by police officers related to arrests of immigrants and U.S. natives, and examine whether differences emerge before and after May 2007, when the 287(g) program began. Results show significant shifts in the reasons given for arrests before and after implementation of 287(g), and characteristics about foreignness such as country of origin, language use, and legal status that became more salient after 287(g). We argue that the 287(g) program—coupled with the political climate in which it was embedded—bestowed salience on traits that, in the past, were not relevant. That is, our findings suggest that anti-immigrant laws, such as 287(g), play an important role in the social construction of legal status among police officers.