Immigrant Fertility in the Midst of Intensified Enforcement

Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes and Esther Arenas-Arroy

No 1, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: This paper exploits the temporal and geographic variation in the implementation of local and state immigration enforcement measures to identify their impact on undocumented immigrants’ fertility. Using data from the 2005 through 2014 American Community Survey, we find that a one standard deviation increase in the intensity of immigration enforcement lowers the childbearing likelihood of likely undocumented women by 6.3 percent. This effect appears driven by police-based measures and, the fact that is present among intact families, families headed by a likely undocumented couple, as well as among the poorest families, suggests the importance of limited income resources, along with increased uncertainty emanating from an intensified fear of deportation, on likely unauthorized women’s fertility. Given immigrants’ critical contribution to the sustainability of the welfare state and the spread-out embracement of a piece-meal approach to immigration enforcement, further exploration of this impact is warranted and recommended.

Keywords: Fertility; Immigration Enforcement; Undocumented Immigration; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J15 K37 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-law and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1

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