Black And Highly Dangerous

For years, immigration has been at the forefront of policy discussions and political debates. For today’s episode, we explore the criminalization of immigration policy by interviewing Dr. Felicia Arriaga, a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Sociology in the criminology concentration at Appalachian State University. We begin the interview by discussing Dr. Arriaga’s work as a publicly engaged sociologist (32:15). We then have a conversation about the South as a new immigrant destination (39:02), the criminalization of immigration (45:13), and whether or not there is a link between immigration and crime (51:45). Next, we explore the role of local law enforcement agencies in the criminalization of immigration (55:45), the tension between cost and effectiveness of local initiatives (1:03:20), how crimmigration impacts individuals and families (1:07:55), and immigrants’ perceptions of law enforcement (1:16:56). We close the interview by discussing policy solutions and recommendations to address the harms caused