The relationship between undocumented immigrants and law enforcement officials continues to be a politically contentious topic in the United States. Nolan Kline focuses on the hidden, health-related impacts of immigrant policing to examine the role of policy in shaping health inequality in the U.S., and responds to fundamental questions regarding biopolitics, especially how policy can reinforce ‘race’ as a vehicle of social division. He argues that immigration enforcement policy results in a shadow medical system, shapes immigrants’ health and interpersonal relationships, and has health-related impacts that extend beyond immigrants to affect health providers, immigrant rights groups, hospitals, and the overall health system. Pathogenic Policing follows current immigrant policing regimes in Georgia and contextualizes contemporary legislation and law enforcement practices against a backdrop of historical forms of political exclusion from health and social services for all undocumented immigrants in the U.S. For anyone concerned about the health of the most vulnerable among us, and those who interact with the overall health safety net, this will be an eye-opening read.

Nolan Kline is an assistant professor of anthropology at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

“Attrition through enforcement has become the dominant response to the presence of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Nolan Kline, through careful ethnographic exploration of the situation in Georgia, reveals the many negative impacts of this approach, not just on immigrants, but on American society as a whole. Told from the first-hand perspective of a participant observer, this book is a cri de coeur.”

Cohesively argued and well-written, Pathogenic Policing will make a valuable addition to courses in medical anthropology, public health, and migration, among others. More broadly, its timely lessons on the public health consequences of racist policing have important implications for anti-racist social movements and public policy alike. As the controversial relationship between policing and public safety (or endangerment) commands international attention, Pathogenic Policing advances a prescient and robustly evidenced argument for the incompatibility of racist law enforcement and community well-being."

“Pathogenic Policing tells an important story that we all need to hear. The pipeline from local policing to deportation does not just remove unauthorized immigrants for petty traffic offenses. It frightens them, their families, and neighborhoods—indeed, this is a major cause of family separation—leading to self-denial of needed health care, a serious burden on communities. Kline’s explanation of these connections is clear, well-supported, and passionate; this is a vital book.”

"This ethnography compels us to pay close attention to the multiple layers of immigration enforcement that mark the current moment, to recognize how policing reaches beyond any one encounter, and to consider what forms of community we hope to foster. Kline reveals how policing directly threatens the health and well-being of immigrants and their loved ones, and, in the end, erodes rights for all."
 

"Recommended."