Spillover Effects of Immigration Policies on Children’s Human Capital
with Bernhard Schmidpeter
We study the spillover effects of immigration enforcement policies on children’s human capital, concentrating on language proficiency as one of the essential skills. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the enactment of immigration enforcement policies, we find that English language skills of US-born children with at least one undocumented parent are negatively affected by the introduction of immigration enforcement laws. Changes in parental investment behavior cause this reduction in children’s English skills. Parents are less likely to enroll their children in formal non-mandatory preschool, substituting formal non-mandatory preschool education with parental time at home. Parents also reduce time spent on leisure and socializing as a response to immigration laws. Ultimately, these developments reduce children’s language skills and affect their long-term educational success. We show that exposure to immigration enforcement during early childhood lowers the likelihood of high school completion. We also find negative, though imprecise, effects on college enrollment.
Working Paper
with Bernhard Schmidpeter
We study the spillover effects of immigration enforcement policies on children’s human capital, concentrating on language proficiency as one of the essential skills. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the enactment of immigration enforcement policies, we find that English language skills of US-born children with at least one undocumented parent are negatively affected by the introduction of immigration enforcement laws. Changes in parental investment behavior cause this reduction in children’s English skills. Parents are less likely to enroll their children in formal non-mandatory preschool, substituting formal non-mandatory preschool education with parental time at home. Parents also reduce time spent on leisure and socializing as a response to immigration laws. Ultimately, these developments reduce children’s language skills and affect their long-term educational success. We show that exposure to immigration enforcement during early childhood lowers the likelihood of high school completion. We also find negative, though imprecise, effects on college enrollment.
Working Paper