Crime and Victimization on the United States-Mexico Border: A Comparison of Legal Residents, Illegal Residents and Native-Born Citizens, Texas, 2019-2023 (ICPSR 39110)
Version Date: Jun 26, 2025 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Jennifer Eno Louden, The University of Texas at El Paso;
Theodore R. Curry, The University of Texas at El Paso
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39110.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The project was divided into two studies that together sought to compare criminal histories and victimization experiences for immigrants compared to U.S.-born citizens in the U.S.-México border region. Study one (datasets 1 and 2) of the project consists of secondary data from the El Paso County Sheriff's office, the US Census, and the El Paso Neighborhood Survey. Study two (dataset 3) of the project consists of interviews with inmates from El Paso county jails.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
Census block
Restrictions View help for Restrictions
Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to understand the link between immigration, crime, and victimization in the US-Mexico border region. In comparing experiences of participants, the project team asked 4 research questions: (1) How do the criminal histories of legal residents and illegal residents compare to U.S. born citizens?, (2) What are the individual- and neighborhood-level characteristics that contribute to criminal behavior for legal residents, illegal residents, and U.S.-born citizens in the U.S.-México border region?, (3) How do the victimization histories of legal residents and illegal residents compare to U.S. born citizens?, and (4) What are the characteristics that are associated with victimization for legal residents, illegal residents, and U.S.-born citizens in the U.S.-México border region?
Study Design View help for Study Design
Study 1 uses data from multiple existing sources. Data from El Paso County Sherriff's Office was provided through the El Paso County Criminal Justice and Community Support Department ("CJC"). These data were collected as a part of standard criminal justice processing and linked with data on criminal charges sourced from El Paso County's pre-trial risk assessment tool, publicly available U.S. Census data, and data from the El Paso Neighborhood Survey.
Study 2 uses data from face-to-face interviews with inmates from El Paso County jails. Please refer to the documentation for more information on Study 1 and Study 2.
Sample View help for Sample
The sampling frame for Study 1 included all intakes for felonies and misdemeanors to El Paso County jails from April 1, 2019 to August 11, 2019. The final sample size for Study 1 was 5,611.
For Study 2, a probability sample of participants was selected from admissions to El Paso County jails for felony and misdemeanors from November 17, 2021 and May 3, 2023. A total of 280 inmates were interviewed.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Persons booked into El Paso County, Texas jails
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
El Paso County Criminal Justice and Community Support Department
El Paso County Jails
El Paso Neighborhood Survey Project
U.S. Census
El Paso County Sheriff's Office
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Study one (datasets 1 and 2) provides information on defendants' charges, demographic information, and neighborhood characteristics. Study two (dataset 3) provides detailed information on demographics, acculturation, immigration, criminal history, victimization history, social support, self-control, levels of service, and case management inventory.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2025-06-26
Version History View help for Version History
2025-06-26 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.