The convergence of criminal and immigration law, called “crimmigration,” is reshaping the experiences of immigrants across the spectrum of documentation status, punishing immigrants with criminal consequences for infractions of changing immigration law. Crimmigration is the product of increasingly punitive policies that have been emerging in the USA for more than a century. This paper assesses the role of economic fears spur increasingly harsh immigration laws, as well as the economic toll of the crimmigration nexus. It also considers the contribution of right-wing ideologues whose increased influence in government policy contributes to draconian changes to immigration policy, inaugurating the crimmigatory state.