In both the United States and Spain, Latino migrants are disproportionately exposed to crime victimization. Among them, those with irregular status are scared to report crime to the police out of the fear of deportation. This article explores how national legislation and local policies in the United States and Spain regulate the possibility of irregular migrants who are victims of crime to interact with the police. We analyze the interplay between immigration and criminal legislation and enforcement structures in the United States and Spain to define whether deportation is a real or perceived risk for victims reporting crime. We identify opportunities for “safe reporting of crime,” and we look at how policy responses in the two countries compare. We find that national legislation in both countries introduced measures aimed at allowing safe interactions between migrant victims and the police. Additionally, in the United States, cities also adopted local “safe reporting” policies. However, despite these existing measures, opportunities for safe reporting remain limited in both countries. We conclude with a discussion on lessons that legislators in the United States and Spain could learn from each other to improve the reporting of crime from victims with irregular status.

在美国和西班牙，拉美裔移民极易遭受犯罪行为的侵害。其中，由于担心被驱逐出境，具有非正常身份的人不敢向警方举报犯罪。本文探讨了美国和西班牙的国家立法和地方政策如何规范作为犯罪受害者的非正规移民与警察互动的可能性。我们分析了美国和西班牙的移民与刑事立法和执法机构之间的相互作用，以确定驱逐出境是举报犯罪行为的受害者的真实风险还是感知风险。我们确定了“安全举报犯罪”的机会，并研究了两国的政策反应如何进行比较。我们发现，两国的国家立法都采取了旨在允许移民受害者与警察之间安全互动的措施。此外，在美国，城市还采用了当地的“安全报告”政策。但是，尽管采取了这些现有措施，但两国的安全报告机会仍然有限。最后，我们讨论了一些教训，美国和西班牙的立法者可以相互学习，以改进对身份不正常的受害者的犯罪举报。