Legal Status and Immigrant Human Capital
Paper Session
Monday, Jan. 5, 2026 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (EST)
This session will be streamed live.
- Chair: Kristin Butcher, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
The Birth of Unauthorized Immigration in the United States
Abstract
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA) imposed, for the first time in U.S. history, annual restrictions on the number of Latin American immigrants who could obtain a Green Card (permanent residency). Only since this change has the U.S. experienced high levels of unauthorized immigration from Mexico, as well as other parts of Latin America. Focusing on Mexico – and compiling data from a variety of administrative sources – we first show that Mexican inflows to the U.S. grew increasingly dominated by unauthorized immigrants across the 1970s. Using variation across counties in the decadal change in unauthorized share, we then present evidence that the legal status of Mexican mothers affected the health of their U.S. born children at birth. These findings suggest that the phenomenon of unauthorized immigration emerged quickly after the INA and impacted the health and well-being of U.S. citizens.The Impact of DACA on the Occupational Outcomes of Undocumented Youth Migrants
Abstract
U.S. laws make it illegal for employers to knowingly hire undocumented migrants. This legal constraint affects which firms will employ unauthorized workers and what jobs undocumented migrants can expect to get. As a result, unauthorized migrants are more likely to end up in jobs that have a lower risk of detection of immigration status and are less desirable. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which began in August 2012, gave temporary legal authorization to work in the U.S. to a subset of undocumented migrants -- those who arrived in the U.S. as children meeting certain other eligibility criteria. In this paper, we use a difference-in-differences strategy to estimate the effect of DACA on the occupational outcomes of young adults who arrived in the U.S. as children. Applying this strategy to individual-level data from the American Community Survey, we find that DACA eligibility decreases the likelihood that noncitizen childhood immigrants hold traditional immigrant jobs or jobs with a high risk of injury, and increases the likelihood of holding occupations that are higher-paying and employ more educated workers. These findings are consistent with legal barriers constraining undocumented childhood migrants from taking the jobs they are interested in and have the skills for. These workers are shunted to jobs they find less desirable and there are societal losses from the misallocation of talent.STEM OPT Reforms and Shifts in the Supply of STEM Skills
Abstract
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills are critical to innovation and economic growth. Since the late 2000s, a series of reforms to the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program have extended work authorization for international graduates in STEM fields, allowing them to remain in the U.S. labor market for up to 36 months. Using administrative data and a difference-in-differences design, we examine how these reforms affected the relative supply of foreign STEM graduates at the Master’s level, who comprise the majority of OPT participants. We find that STEM participation in OPT rose by 35 percentage points relative to non-STEM fields. We also assess whether increased international enrollment in STEM crowded out domestic degree completions and quantify the net change in the supply of STEM and non-STEM skills. Our findings offer new evidence on how temporary work policies shape educational choices and skill supply.Discussant(s)
Kristin Butcher
,
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Chloe East
,
University of Colorado-Boulder
Na’ama Shenhav
,
University of California-Berkeley
Julia Zhu
,
San Diego State University
JEL Classifications
- J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor
- K3 - Other Substantive Areas of Law