A Tale of 287(g) Counties: Diverging Immigration Policy in Hudson and Monmouth Counties, New Jersey

Abstract

Over the past three decades, immigration policy has undergone seismic changes in response to drastic increases in immigrant presence in the United States. As a result, municipal governments have become increasingly involved in the creation and enforcement of immigration law. While some scholars have studied the conditions under which certain immigration policies have been enacted, less attention has been paid to the way in which the underlying issue culture, public opinion, and media coverage can influence those conditions. Applying both media framing and persuasive messaging theory, this thesis looks at the effect of issue culture on the diverging paths taken by two New Jersey counties through their adoption of immigration policy. While both Hudson and Monmouth counties signed on to 287(g) agreements, the conditions in Hudson County should have made it statistically far less likely for such an agreement to be adopted. Through a qualitative analysis of media coverage surrounding the 287(g) agreements in either county, the impact of underlying issue culture on audience receptiveness to policy suggestions is explored. The effectiveness of advocates on both sides of the issue in each county depended on the degree to which there was broad-based acceptance of the rhetoric by those receiving the information, such acceptance being determined by the underlying issue culture. Grassroots immigrants advocacy groups finally found success in Hudson County when issue culture switched, and their use of persuasive identity narrative drew attention to the 287(g) program in a way that highlighted the program’s negative valence and ultimately capitalized on the county’s politically expedient environment, successfully ending Hudson’s partnership with ICE.