Immigration Enforcement Policies, the Economic Recession, and the Size of Local Mexican Immigrant Populations

There is growing evidence that local conditions, particularly economic considerations, shape the geographic dispersion of immigrant groups. Yet our understanding of the impact of local variation in public policies on immigrants internal settlement patterns remains rudimentary. This paper takes advantage of local area variation in immigration policies and economic conditions to estimate their unique impact on changes in the size of local Mexican immigrant populations between 2007 and 2009. Specifically, we relate the implementation of the 287(g) program, which involves local authorities in immigration control and changes in employment patterns by industry and education level to changes in the size of the Mexican immigrant population after the 2007 recession.