America’s Deadly Export: Evidence from Cross-country Panel Data of Deportation and Homicide Rates

Changes in US Immigration laws that occurred during the mid 1980s to the late 1990s led to a sharp increase in criminal deportations. Using panel data for a sample of 38 developed and developing countries, I provide evidence for a statistically significantly positive causal relationship between increases in the numbers of criminal deportees and increases in intentional homicide rates. The magnitude of these effects is stable across model specifications and suggests that a 1 percent increase in the number of criminal deportees per capita leads to a 4 to 8 percent increase in the receiving country’s homicide rate. JEL classification: N46; K42; F22; C23