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Recent changes in immigration policy and U.S. naturalization patterns

Author

Listed:
  • Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes

    (University of California Merced)

  • Mary Lopez

    (Occidental College)

Abstract

Naturalization bestows economic benefits to immigrants, their families, and communities through greater access to employment opportunities, higher earnings, and homeownership. It is the cornerstone of immigrant assimilation in the United States. Yet, less than 720,000 of the estimated 8.5 million legal permanent residents (LPRs) eligible to naturalize do so on a yearly basis. Using data from the 2008–2018 American Community Survey, we analyze how the expansion of interior immigration enforcement impacts the decision to naturalize. We find that the adoption over an entire year of one enforcement initiative, or of two enforcement initiatives for half a year, raises the naturalization hazard by 2 percent. The effect is more pronounced among LPRs who are Mexican, women, or reside in non-mixed status households. Finally, the impact is driven by police-based, as opposed to employment-based, interior immigration enforcement. In sum, immigrants who naturalize in response to intensified enforcement may be doing so out of fear or uncertainty about their ability to secure their citizenship status and rights in a rapidly changing immigration policy environment increasingly hostile towards immigrants.

Suggested Citation

  • Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Mary Lopez, 2021. "Recent changes in immigration policy and U.S. naturalization patterns," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 843-872, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:19:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s11150-020-09510-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-020-09510-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cynthia Bansak, 2014. "Employment Verification Mandates And The Labor Market Outcomes Of Likely Unauthorized And Native Workers," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 32(3), pages 671-680, July.
    2. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2014. "On the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Enhanced U.S. Border and Interior Immigration Enforcement: Evidence From Mexican Deportees," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2255-2279, December.
    3. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Mary J. Lopez, 2017. "Interior Immigration Enforcement and Political Participation of U.S. Citizens in Mixed-Status Households," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(6), pages 2223-2247, December.
    4. Bohn, Sarah & Lofstrom, Magnus, 2012. "Employment Effects of State Legislation against the Hiring of Unauthorized Immigrant Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 6598, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    6. Francesca Mazzolari, 2009. "Dual citizenship rights: do they make more and richer citizens?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(1), pages 169-191, February.
    7. Sarah Bohn & Magnus Lofstrom & Steven Raphael, 2014. "Did the 2007 Legal Arizona Workers Act Reduce the State's Unauthorized Immigrant Population?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(2), pages 258-269, May.
    8. Tara Watson, 2014. "Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 313-338, August.
    9. Bernt Bratsberg & James F. Ragan & Zafar M. Nasir, 2002. "The Effect of Naturalization on Wage Growth: A Panel Study of Young Male Immigrants," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 568-597, July.
    10. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Cynthia Bansak, 2012. "The Labor Market Impact of Mandated Employment Verification Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(3), pages 543-548, May.
    11. Barry R. Chiswick & Paul W. Miller, 2009. "Citizenship in the United States: the roles of immigrant characteristics and country of origin," Research in Labor Economics, in: Ethnicity and Labor Market Outcomes, pages 91-130, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    12. Genti Kostandini & Elton Mykerezi & Cesar Escalante, 2014. "The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on the U.S. Farming Sector," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 96(1), pages 172-192.
    13. Tara Watson, 2013. "Enforcement and immigrant location choice," Working Papers 13-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    14. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Pozo, Susan, 2014. "On the Intended and Unintended Consequences of Enhanced Border and Interior Immigration Enforcement: Evidence from Deportees," IZA Discussion Papers 8458, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
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    1. Zenou, Yves & Biavaschi, Costanza & Giulietti, Corrado, 2021. "Social Networks and (Political) Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration," CEPR Discussion Papers 16182, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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