Climbing the Political Ladder with Legal Status: Evidence from the Immigration Reform and Control Act

Andrea Bernini and Navid Sabet

No 12081, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: We study how immigrant legalization affects political representation and public service delivery, focusing on the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), which granted legal status to nearly three million undocumented Hispanic migrants. Using geographic variation in IRCA exposure and newly digitized data on 12,000 Hispanic officials, we find legalization increased Hispanic representation in local government and facilitated upward mobility from school boards into municipal and county offices. These changes altered institutional behavior, shifting education spending toward capital investment and diversifying the racial composition of the teaching workforce. Immigration policy thus reshapes who governs and how public goods are allocated.

Keywords: legalization; political representation; political mobility; local public finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H75 I28 J15 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12081

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