This article studies whether immigration enforcement induces international crime spillovers
on “home” countries (where individuals are returned when deported). For this purpose, we use
individual and municipal panel data on victimization, safety perceptions, and average violent
crime matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico. To identify
causal effects, we exploit the exogenous changes in U.S. immigration laws caused by the terrorist
attacks of 2001. These changes induced higher variations on exposure to deportation
flows for Mexican municipalities closer to the 28 U.S.-Mexican repatriation points. We find
that individuals more exposed to deportation have a higher likelihood of being victims of robberies
and also have lower safety perceptions. Deportees, however, are mostly the victims and
not the perpetrators of crime.