New Books Network Peter Mancina, "On the Side of ICE: Policing Immigrants in a Sanctuary State" (NYU Press, 2025)
Dec 17, 2025
Peter Mancina, an anthropologist and visiting scholar at Rutgers Law School, dives deep into the complex relationship between local police and ICE. He reveals how, even in sanctuary jurisdictions, police informally reinforce federal immigration enforcement. Mancina discusses the loopholes within sanctuary policies that allow for exceptions and how police practices often contradict the intent of these laws. He also introduces his innovative body-worn camera ethnography method, shedding light on the realities of police interactions with immigrants.
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Long-Term Ethnographic Study Of Sanctuary Policies
- Peter Mancina has studied sanctuary policies and policing for about 15 years through ethnography and documents.
- His work focuses on how policies operate in practice, not just their written text.
Local Police As ICE Force Multipliers
- ICE relies on local police as force multipliers to locate and detain people for deportation.
- Local jails and police-generated information make ICE enforcement far more efficient than lone federal searches.
Exceptions Turn Sanctuary Policies Inside Out
- Sanctuary policies typically restrict local enforcement of civil immigration law but include exceptions for serious crimes.
- Those exceptions enable substantial cooperation that undermines the policies' protective intent.