This issue of The Takeaway describes Dr. Kalena Cortes’s research on the relationship between the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and subsequent enrollment of immigrant youth, providing insight into potential effects and intergenerational benefits of effective immigration policy. Reducing barriers to higher education for undocumented immigrant youth can significantly improve higher educational attainment for these populations, leading to more prosperous communities. Cortes’s research found a significant increase in post-secondary enrollment among immigrant youth to whom amnesty was granted by the IRCA

Tidwell, Tyler

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Texas A&amp;M Repository

Achieving the DREAM  The Effect of IRCA on Immigrant Youth Post-Secondary Educational Access TYLER TIDWELL Bush School of Government and Public Service VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 8 | JUNE 2020 Dr. Kalena Cortes’ research on the relationship between  the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) and sub-sequent enrollment of immigrant youth provides insight into potential effects and intergenerational benefits of ef-fective immigration policy. Reducing barriers to higher education for undocumented immigrant youth can signifi-cantly improve higher educational attainment for these populations, leading to more prosperous communities. Ev-idence suggests a significant increase in post-secondary enrollment among immigrant youth to whom amnesty was granted between 1975-1981.1 CONTEXT Various legislative attempts to offer opportunities for minor undocumented immigrants living in the United States to achieve legal status and educational attainment have been debated for decades with very limited success.  WHAT’S THE TAKEAWAY?  Legal and financial barriers inhibit many undocumented immigrant youth from attaining post-secondary education.   Undocumented immigrants granted amnesty by the IRCA in 1986 were found to be 13.9% more likely to enroll in post-secondary education.   If implemented today, similar legislation could lead to improvements in educational attainment for up to 1.8 million undocumented immigrants. 2 Education policy toward immigrant children began changing in 1982, with the US Su-preme Court landmark ruling in Plyler v. Doe, which granted undocumented immi-grant children access to free public school-ing. Justice Lewis Powell, concurring with the ruling, asserted that, “A legislative classi-fication that threatens the creation of an un-derclass of future citizens and residents can-not be reconciled with one of the fundamen-tal purposes of the Fourteenth Amend-ment.”2 The ruling, however, did not address postsecondary educational needs. Financial and legal barriers to pursuing higher educa-tion have been left largely in place.  Though never passed, The DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Al-ien Minors) sought to lift some barriers, providing permanent residency to undocu-mented minors who lived in the United States before the age of 15, had been present for 5 years prior to the bill, obtained a high school diploma or GED, and were under 35 years old. The DREAM Act morphed over time into DACA (Deferred Action for Child-hood Arrivals), a policy directive with simi-lar scope and aims. Other policy initiatives, like the IRCA, granted amnesty to roughly 2.8 million undocumented immigrants who had arrived before January 1, 1982.  Comparing postsecondary enrollments be-fore and after the IRCA passed in 1986 gave Cortes the opportunity to research the im-pact of legal status on educational attain-ment for immigrant youth.  RESEARCH STRATEGY Cortes uses a difference-in-difference ap-proach to estimate the effect of IRCA. She isolates the effect of this policy by compar-ing the educational outcomes of two immi-grant youth groups: a control group who always had permanent legal status (refugees) and the treatment group with undocumented status (economic migrants) who arrived before and after IRCA.  In this setup, the first difference compares changes in college enrollment rates before and after the enactment of IRCA. The second difference compares the enrollment rates between economic migrants (with undocu-mented status) and refugees (who have al-ways had legal status and did not experience any policy chance). There are no other exog-enous factors, other than the IRCA enact-ment, that could explain the differences in the treatment group observed during this time frame.  1975-81: Economic migrants who arrived in the US prior to 1982 and were granted amnesty under IRCA.  1982-86: Economic migrants who arrived after 1981 and missed the cutoff year for amnesty eligibility under IRCA.  To perform the analysis, Cortes uses a sam-ple of 33,866 foreign-born immigrant youths who were not older than 18 years of age up-on arrival in the United States and who im-The potential cascade effect of educating immigrant populations can hardly be overstated. Tyler Tidwell | Achieving the DREAM | Volume 11 | Issue 8 | June 2020 migrated to the United States between 1975 and 1986. She examines seven cohorts who arrived between 1975 and 1981 (where  the economic youth were eligible for IRCA, so both groups had legal status), and five co-horts between 1982 and 1986 (where the economic youth had arrived after the IRCA cut-off year, so only the refugee youth had legal status). In sum, Cortes finds that undocumented youth who were granted amnesty during 1975-81 by the IRCA were 13.9% more like-ly than their counterparts during 1982-86 to enroll in college. Figure 1 illustrates how the enrollment rates for economic and refugee immigrant youth diverge only after 1981, showing that youths from the economic mi-grant group who missed the amnesty period were less likely to enroll in college. POLICY LESSONS This evidence for the repercussions of immi-gration policy suggests that: 1) Lowering legal and financial barriers translates to better education among undocumented immigrant youth. The effects of policies like granting amnesty can have a profound effect on the ability of individuals to pursue post-secondary educa-tion and better their own lives and ultimate-ly those of their community. The rate of en-rollment decreases upon reinstating such legal barriers. In effect, lowering such barri-ers can lead to more contributing members  and a more prosperous society and commu-nity among undocumented immigrant youth.  2) The positive effects of such policies remain constant cross-culturally. Improvements in enrollment were seen among immigrant populations from South-east Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere.3 In simply providing legal status, thus extending time horizons, each population capitalized on the passive incentive to better their situa-tion.  3) Small improvements in rates of post-secondary education can go a long way in improving the status and po-tential outcomes for undocumented immigrant populations.  There are currently over 1 million undocu-mented children residing in the country who were either brought by their guardians or arrived under truly dire circumstances. Higher education is correlated with lower crime rates, higher salaries and employment rates, and improved quality of life.4, 5 This translates to a safer, more productive, and happier America. The potential cascade ef-3 Tyler Tidwell | Achieving the DREAM | Volume 11 | Issue 8 | June 2020 Figure 1: Percent Enrolled in College in 2000 by Immigrant Group and Year of Immigration Source: 2000 Census Public Use Micro Sample (PUMS) and Cortes’s calculations  fect of educating immigrant populations can hardly be overstated.  TODAY’S CHALLENGE Although eighteen states today have passed laws offering in-state tuition to undocu-mented youth, their legal status still repre-sents a hindrance to pursuing further educa-tion. There are an estimated 2.5 million un-documented immigrants who are 24 or un-der.6 Unlike the DREAM Act which preceded it, DACA does not provide a path to citizen-ship; it provides renewable protection from deportation for applicants who meet the cri-teria. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on DACA no later than June of 2020, putting current recipients at risk of deportation. Analysis of the IRCA shows positive effects of granting amnesty to undocumented immi-grant youth on educational attainment. This suggests that a similar, contemporary policy could lead to significantly higher rates of educational attainment within these com-munities.  4 Tyler Tidwell | Achieving the DREAM | Volume 11 | Issue 8 | June 2020 ABOUT THE MOSBACHER INSTITUTE The Mosbacher Institute was founded in 2009 to honor Robert A. Mosbacher, Secretary of Commerce from 1989-1992 and key architect of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Through our three core programs–Global Markets and Trade, Energy, and Governance and Public Services–our objective is to advance the design of policies for tomorrow’s challenges. Contact: Cynthia Gause, Program Coordinator Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy  Bush School of Government and Public Service 4220 TAMU, Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-4220 Email: bushschoolmosbacher@tamu.edu  Website: http://bush.tamu.edu/mosbacher The views expressed here are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Mosbacher Institute, a center for independent, nonpartisan academic and policy research, nor of the Bush School of Government and Public Service.  To share your thoughts on The Takeaway, please visit  http://bit.ly/1ABajdH  Tyler Tidwell is a student at the Bush School of Government and Public Service pursuing a master’s degree in International Affairs with concentrations in Conflict and Development, American Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, and Latin America. Kalena Cortes, is an associate professor at the Bush School. Her research focuses on the economics of education.   Notes: 1 Cortes, K.E. (2013). Achieving the DREAM: The effect of IRCA on immigrant youth postsecondary educational access. American Economic Review, 103(3), 428-32. DOI: 10.1257/aer.103.3.428. 2 Access to Education -Rule of Law. United States Courts. https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/access-education-rule-law.   3 To account for the concern that the 1975-81 group was an altogether different group of immigrants than the 1982-86 group, Cortes (2013) performed additional analysis adding one, two, and three years on either side and found comparable increased enrollment rates.  Cortes also finds that among youth granted amnesty by IRCA, those from Latin America are 10.4 percentage points more likely to enroll in post-secondary education, compared to 9.1 percentage points among Southeast Asian youth. 4 Lochner, L. & Moretti, E. (2004). The effect of education on crime: Evidence from prison inmates, arrests, and self-reports. American Economic Review, 94(1), 155-89. 5 Card, D. (1999). The causal effect of education on earnings. Handbook of Labor Economics, 3(A), 1801-63. 6 Migration Policy Institute (November 1, 2018). Profile of the unauthorized population: United States. Estimates there are 803,000 youth under 16, and 1.65 million between 16 and 24.  

Achieving the DREAM: The Effect of IRCA on Immigrant Youth Post-Secondary Educational Access

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Achieving the DREAM: The Effect of IRCA on Immigrant Youth Post-Secondary Educational Access

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Achieving the DREAM: The Effect of IRCA on Immigrant Youth Post-Secondary Educational Access

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