Abstract
California has been at the forefront of advocacy on issues related to immigration—becoming a sanctuary state on October 5, 2017. However, while state policies have taken progressive and noteworthy efforts to integrate immigrants regardless of their immigration status, the state also has the second-largest number of detention centers federally funded. This thesis will address this paradox by focusing on how political, social, and economic interests at the level of the county determine contracting with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. More specifically, the paper will utilize a case study of two county hubs of detention in California—Orange County and Los Angeles County. Using an institutional lens, coupled with the framework of crimmigration, this thesis will examine how immigration detention centers became established in these two particular counties. Traditional approaches to immigration have focus on the impact of the U.S. broken immigration system on individuals, and this thesis seeks to add to this literature by revealing the role framing and politics play at the county level in building up the detention of migrants. The data for this analysis comes from two major newspaper publications covering Los Angeles and Orange County. For Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times articles are examined from 2014-2019. In the case of Orange County, Orange County Register is examined. I explore how issues are framed and presented, such that detention facilities become established. Furthermore, I will also examine city records such as intergovernmental agreements, resolutions, policy, and ordinances to make sense of politicians’ stance on immigration, internal politics, and economic profit from such practices, as well as how counties frame these arrangements.