How Do Tougher Immigration Measures Affect Unauthorized Immigrants?: Comment

Excerpt

In “How Do Tougher Immigration Measures Affect Unauthorized Immigrants?” Amuedo-Dorantes et al. make an important contribution to the growing literature on the effects of state-level policies targeting unauthorized immigrants. Using a new data set on unauthorized migrants who have returned to Mexico, the study measures the effect of E-Verify mandates on outcomes, including access to legal, government, and health services, cross-state mobility, fear of deportation, and intent to return to the United States in the future. There are two main findings. Although living in a state with E-Verify does not affect migrants’ access to services, it appears to heighten deportation fears and to reduce cross-state mobility among migrants returning voluntarily. Among deportees, E-Verify also appears to result in significantly lower intent to return to the United States in the future. In this comment, I note the limitations of these data in addressing the effects of employer mandates and argue for a less-restrictive identification scheme. …