On the Implications of Immigration Policy Restricting Citizenship: Evidence from the Dominican Republic

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Carlos Gratereaux Hernández () and Susan Pozo

No 10602, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In 2010, an amendment to the Dominican constitution weakened the concept of jus soli citizenship by denying Dominican nationality to individuals born on Dominican soil to irregular immigrants. A few years later, in 2013, the Dominican High Court denationalized large numbers of individuals by reinterpreting language in the prior constitution to, in effect, apply the newer citizenship requirements retroactively to 1929. We gauge the impacts of changes to Dominican citizenship laws on Haitian immigrants and their descendants, to whom, many believe, these policies were directed. We find that the constitutional amendment affected informal employment of some Haitians and their descendants. Furthermore, the High Court's ruling resulted in a significant reduction in the share of Haitian-descendant youth registered in school. Non-attendance was attributed primarily to lack of appropriate documents. Given the rise of nationalist sentiments and discussions to further restrict and revoking citizenship in various regions of the world today, it is important to further explore how these policies ultimately impact targeted and vulnerable populations.

Keywords: immigration policy; birthright citizenship; Dominican Republic; Haiti (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F22 F63 F66 F68 J61 K37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2017-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lam, nep-law and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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