Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Roundtable: Consequences of Intensified Immigration Policy Enforcement for the Well-Being of Children of Immigrants

(Population and Migration Issues)

Perceived threats to our national and economic security kindled by events like 9/11 and the recent deep recession have spurred calls for tighter enforcement of immigration policies, particularly those aimed at reducing unauthorized immigration. States have dramatically stepped up legislative activity and enforcement efforts, and combined with increasingly aggressive federal policy actions, the enforcement climate is contributing to increased fear and stress in immigrant families, particularly those with at least one undocumented family member. This has led some immigrants to avoid all public programs and interactions with service providers, regardless of whether the family member is a direct target of enforcement policy. For example, the research presented by Joaquin Alfredo-Angel Rubalcaba in this roundtable shows that U.S.-born children in mixed-status families were 24-percentage points more likely to lack health insurance (compared to other citizen children). Other research shows that U.S.-born children in mixed-status families are more likely to experience poverty, slower academic progress and family dissolution. The panelists in this roundtable will discuss original research, some with new data sources or new methods for identifying the undocumented in existing data sources, to describe the consequences of intensified immigration policy enforcement for immigrants, particularly for children living in mixed status households. In addition, the panelists will discuss policy opportunities and mechanisms for improving the well-being of children of immigrants and other family members (in the current enforcement climate). In presenting their work in this “lightning roundtable”, each panelist will talk for 10 minutes or less to describe: •