IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0245020.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Heightened immigration enforcement impacts US citizens’ birth outcomes: Evidence from early ICE interventions in North Carolina

Author

Listed:
  • Romina Tome
  • Marcos A Rangel
  • Christina M Gibson-Davis
  • Laura Bellows

Abstract

We examine how increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities impacted newborn health and prenatal care utilization in North Carolina around the time Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act was first being implemented within the state. Focusing on administrative data between 2004 and 2006, we conduct difference-in-differences and triple-difference case-control regression analysis. Pregnancies were classified by levels of potential exposure to immigration enforcement depending on parental nativity and educational attainment. Contrast groups were foreign-born parents residing in nonadopting counties and all US-born non-Hispanic parents. The introduction of the program was estimated to decrease birth weight by 58.54 grams (95% confidence interval [CI], −83.52 to −33.54) with effects likely following from reduced intrauterine growth. These results are shown to coexist with a worsening in the timing of initiation and frequency of prenatal care received. Since birth outcomes influence health, education, and earnings trajectories, our findings suggest that the uptick in ICE activities can have large socioeconomic costs over US-born citizens.

Suggested Citation

  • Romina Tome & Marcos A Rangel & Christina M Gibson-Davis & Laura Bellows, 2021. "Heightened immigration enforcement impacts US citizens’ birth outcomes: Evidence from early ICE interventions in North Carolina," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(2), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0245020
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245020
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0245020&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0245020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra E. Black & Paul J. Devereux & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2007. "From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(1), pages 409-439.
    2. Lasse Eika & Magne Mogstad & Basit Zafar, 2019. "Educational Assortative Mating and Household Income Inequality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(6), pages 2795-2835.
    3. Mark Ellis & Richard Wright & Matthew Townley, 2016. "State-Scale Immigration Enforcement and Latino Interstate Migration in the United States," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(4), pages 891-908, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Kotelchuck, M., 1994. "The Adequacy of Prenatal Care Utilization Index: Its US distribution and association with low birthweight," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 84(9), pages 1486-1489.
    6. Case, Anne & Fertig, Angela & Paxson, Christina, 2005. "The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 365-389, March.
    7. Athey, Susan & Imbens, Guido W., 2022. "Design-based analysis in Difference-In-Differences settings with staggered adoption," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 226(1), pages 62-79.
    8. Rhodes, S.D. & Mann, L. & Simán, F.M. & Song, E. & Alonzo, J. & Downs, M. & Lawlor, E. & Martinez, O. & Sun, C.J. & O'Brien, M.C. & Reboussin, B.A. & Hall, M.A., 2015. "The impact of local immigration enforcement policies on the health of immigrant Hispanics/Latinos in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(2), pages 329-337.
    9. Douglas Almond & Hilary W. Hoynes & Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, 2011. "Inside the War on Poverty: The Impact of Food Stamps on Birth Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 387-403, May.
    10. repec:ucn:wpaper:10197/317 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Padilla, Tatiana & Reyes, Adriana, 2024. "Hitting closer to home: State policies’ impacts on health by race and legal status," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    2. Hoa Vu, 2024. "I wish I were born in another time: Unintended consequences of immigration enforcement on birth outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 345-362, February.
    3. Timilsina, Laxman, 2023. "Immigration policy shocks and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Verónica Amarante & Marco Manacorda & Edward Miguel & Andrea Vigorito, 2016. "Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Program, and Social Security Data," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 1-43, May.
    2. Brian Beach & Martin Saavedra, 2015. "Mitigating the Effects of Low Birth Weight: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Adoptees," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 1(3), pages 275-296, Summer.
    3. Julia Shu-Huah Wang & Neeraj Kaushal, 2018. "Health and Mental Health Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement," NBER Working Papers 24487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Gabriella Conti & Mark Hanson & Hazel Inskip & Sarah Crozier & Cyrus Cooper & Keith Godfrey, 2018. "Beyond Birth Weight: The Origins of Human Capital," Working Papers 2018-089, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Farzaneh Noghani, 2023. "Long‐run intergenerational health benefits of women empowerment: Evidence from suffrage movements in the US," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(11), pages 2583-2631, November.
    6. Haeck, Catherine & Lefebvre, Pierre, 2016. "A simple recipe: The effect of a prenatal nutrition program on child health at birth," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 77-89.
    7. Mocan, Naci & Raschke, Christian & Unel, Bulent, 2015. "The impact of mothers’ earnings on health inputs and infant health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 204-223.
    8. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Cristina Bellés-Obrero & Antonio Cabrales & Sergi Jiménez-Martín & Judit Vall Castello, 2019. "Mothers’ care: reversing early childhood health shocks through parental investments," Economics Working Papers 1629, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    10. Laura Rodríguez, 2022. "Violence and newborn health: Estimates for Colombia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 112-136, January.
    11. Verónica Amarante & Marco Manacorda & Edward Miguel & Andrea Vigorito, 2011. "Do Cash Transfers Improve Birth Outcomes? Evidence from Matched Vital Statistics, Social Security and Program Data," NBER Working Papers 17690, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Damian Clarke & Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana‐Domeque, 2021. "On the Value of Birth Weight," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(5), pages 1130-1159, October.
    13. Tamás Hajdu & Gábor Hajdu, 2020. "Temperature, climate change and birth weight: Evidence from Hungary," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2032, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    14. Cabrales, Antonio & Bellés-Obrero, Cristina & Jiménez-Martín, Sergi & Vall-Castello, Judit, 2019. "Mothers’ care: reversing early childhood health shocks through parental investments," CEPR Discussion Papers 13451, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Fidel Gonzalez & Santosh Kumar, 2018. "Prenatal care and birthweight in Mexico," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1156-1170, February.
    16. Cygan-Rehm, Kamila & Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2022. "The effects of incentivizing early prenatal care on infant health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    17. Cassandra Robertson & Rourke O’Brien, 2018. "Health Endowment at Birth and Variation in Intergenerational Economic Mobility: Evidence From U.S. County Birth Cohorts," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 249-269, February.
    18. Alzúa, María Laura & Katzkowicz, Noemí, 2021. "Pay for performance for prenatal care and newborn health: Evidence from a developing country," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    19. Aline Bütikofer & René Karadakic & Kjell G. Salvanes, 2021. "Income Inequality and Mortality: A Norwegian Perspective," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(1), pages 193-221, March.
    20. Sonja Settele & Reyn van Ewijk, 2017. "The effect of cigarette taxes during pregnancy on educational outcomes of the next generation," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201703, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0245020. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.