Race, State Surveillance, and Policy Spillover: Do Restrictive Immigration Policies Affect Citizen Earnings?

This study examines how restrictive state immigration policies that expand law enforcement's role affect the earnings of White, African-American, and Latinx U.S. citizens. Using data from the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth merged with state-level immigration policy measures, the authors find that such policies are associated with increased wages for native-born White workers but decreased wages for Latinx and Black citizens. The negative wage effects linked to law enforcement provisions in immigration policies do not significantly differ between men and women within Latinx and Black groups, suggesting a race-based rather than intersectional race-gender effect. These findings highlight how immigration enforcement policies may reinforce racial inequalities in the labor market by disproportionately disadvantaging racialized minority citizens despite benefiting White workers.