Vol.:(0123456789) https://doi.org/10.1007/s42972-021-00027-0 1 3 CONCEPTUAL PAPER The Crimmigratory Agenda: Historical, Economic, and Political Dimensions of the Criminalization of Immigration in the United States Cherra Mathis 1  · David Androff 1 Accepted: 9 March 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Abstract The convergence of criminal and immigration law, called “crimmigration,” is reshaping the experiences of immigrants across the spectrum of documentation sta- tus, punishing immigrants with criminal consequences for infractions of changing immigration law. Crimmigration is the product of increasingly punitive policies that have been emerging in the USA for more than a century. This paper assesses the role of economic fears spur increasingly harsh immigration laws, as well as the economic toll of the crimmigration nexus. It also considers the contribution of right-wing ide- ologues whose increased infuence in government policy contributes to draconian changes to immigration policy, inaugurating the crimmigatory state. Keywords Crimmigration · Law · Economics · Immigration · Asylum · Policy · History Introduction Today in the USA, you can be detained, then deported, away from your children, spouse, and community for a victimless crime—as small as a burnt-out headlight. How can such a simple, minor infraction pull someone into the juggernaut of the US’ immigration and criminal justice systems? The answer, a complex coupling of these two sets of laws and policies, illuminates how the US went from lifting a lamp beside the golden door to separating infants and children from their parents, nega- tion of asylum, and international censure. While the USA has not always welcomed immigrants, this xenophobic approach has left millions of asylum-seekers, licensed permanent residents, and citizens who do not “look American” vulnerable to the machinery of crimmigration. This portmanteau * Cherra Mathis cmmathi1@asu.edu 1 School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA Journal of Policy Practice and Research (2021) 2: –118 105 / Published online: 20 March 2021