Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Department

Political Science

Additional Departmental Affiliation

Economics

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Deportations are an understudied component of U.S. deportation policy. While a range of literature focuses on the factors that influence immigration inflows and public perceptions of immigrants, relatively few have studied deportations. I studied deportations by conducting time-series analysis of yearly deportations and by analyzing three original public opinion surveys on perceptions of deportations. In my time-series chapter, I used regression analysis to find that the party composition of the U.S. House and Senate, the unemployment rate, and the incarceration rate influence deportations. In my public opinion chapter, I find that a plurality of American’s support deportations, particularly when they believe an immigrant is undocumented and/or has committed a crime. I also conducted content analysis on responses to an open-ended prompt, finding that most respondents have a strong opinion on deportations, when tends to average as fairly neutral. This analysis helps determine the language and factors policymakers should emphasize when discussing deportations.

Advisor(s) or Committee Chair

Timothy Rich, Ph.D.

Disciplines

Economics | Political Science

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