Unauthorized Latinos and procedural justice: examining the role of prior police contact, acculturation, and social cohesion

Prior research suggests that Latinos’ evaluations of the police are influenced by a number of immigrant-related factors and experiences (e.g. acculturation, language barriers, perceptions of law enforcement in their countries of origin). Despite the importance of immigration for shaping Latino-police relations, few studies have examined unauthorized Latinos’ perceptions of law enforcement and the specific factors that influence their views on procedural justice. The present study attempts to bridge this gap by employing a unique dataset of 111 unauthorized Latinos from a Midwest U.S. state to examine whether prior police contact, acculturation, and social cohesion impact procedural justice. Using OLS regression analysis, the findings reveal that of these three factors, only acculturation is inversely associated with perceptions of procedural justice. Also important, unauthorized Latinos who believed that local law enforcement were involved in immigration enforcement had significantly lower levels of procedural justice, signifying how such efforts undermine Latino communities’ trust and legitimacy of the police. We discuss the implications of our findings for research and policy in light of the unprecedented increase in immigration enforcement across the U.S.