Do Human Capital Decisions Respond to the Returns to Education? Evidence from DACA

Abstract

This paper studies human capital responses to the availability of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides temporary work authorization and deferral from deportation for undocumented, high-school-educated youth. We use a sample of young adults that migrated to the United States as children to implement a difference-in-difference design that compares noncitizen immigrants (“eligible”) to citizen immigrants (“ineligible”) over time. We find that DACA significantly increased high school attendance and high school graduation rates, reducing the citizen-noncitizen gap in graduation by 40 percent. We also find positive, though imprecise, impacts on college attendance. (JEL H52, I21, I26, J13, J15, J24)

DACA and the Supreme Court: How We Got to This Point, a Statistical Profile of Who Is Affected, and What the Future May Hold for DACA Beneficiaries

“…I didn't understand the limitations of it at that point, but I understood that it would allow me to at least pay for my education, and to at least see that dream through." These testimonies were consistent with a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research which found that DACA "significantly increased high school attendance and high school graduation rates, reducing the citizennoncitizen gap in graduation by 40%" (Kuka et al, 2018).…”

Stringent immigration enforcement and the mental health and health‐risk behaviors of Hispanic adolescent students in Arizona

“…A case in point is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) with its positive immigration stance. The program is credited for significant improvements in high school attendance and graduation rates among DACA‐eligible non‐citizen immigrants (Kuka, Shenhav, & Shih, 2020). Amuedo‐Dorantes and Antman (2017), however, qualify that higher‐educated DACA‐eligible immigrants tend to prefer employment alternatives instead of higher educational pursuits.…”

A Time-Space Stream of DACA Benefits and Barriers Gleaned From the American Community Survey

“…Their samples were 60% to 66% female, compared to 53% in each of two larger data sets (USCIS, 2016;Zong et al, 2017). Their samples revealed that 70% to 71% of respondents had attained "some college," compared to 37% in the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) study and c. 31% in a National Bureau of Economic Research study (Kuka et al, 2018). This tilting of the sample toward educated females may have led to more positive results on education than would have resulted from a more representative sample.…”