Mexicans migrants not deterred by threat of arrest immigration study shows

Mexicans intending to cross the border illegally into the US are not significantly deterred by threats of arrest or the severity of possible punishment – the primary method for dealing with illegal immigration in the US – according to a new study of potential migrants.

[...] Ryo, a research fellow at Stanford Law School's Program in Law and Society and an assistant professor of law at the University of Southern California, found that while 78% of people surveyed said they did not think it is acceptable to violate a law because one disagrees with it, 55% said that violating a law is sometimes justified.

"If you ask an average person, why are there so many unauthorized migrants in the US, the typical story that you might get is something like this: people are looking for better jobs, better economic opportunities for themselves and their families and our immigration enforcement just isn't tough enough to stop them; so, here they are," Ryo said. "But this conventional story misses a critical point, because economic incentives alone typically do not induce otherwise law-abiding people to violate the law. And, my study shows that unauthorized migrants are no different" ...

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* 1,600 men – 9% of whom intended to cross the US border illegally – participated in American Sociological Review's study -