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Empirical Characteristics of Legal and Illegal Immigrants in the U.S

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  • Caponi, Vincenzo

    (CREST)

  • Plesca, Miana

    (University of Guelph)

Abstract

We combine the New Immigrant Survey (NIS), which contains information on US legal immigrants, with the American Community Survey (ACS), which contains information on legal and illegal immigrants to the U.S. Using econometric methodology proposed by Lancaster and Imbens (1996) we compute the probability for each observation in the ACS data to refer to an illegal immigrant, conditional on observed characteristics. The results for illegal versus legal immigrants are novel, since no other work has quantified the characteristics of illegal immigrants from a random sample. We find that, compared to legal immigrants, illegal immigrants are more likely to be less educated, males, and married with their spouse not present. These results are heterogeneous across education categories, country of origin (Mexico) and whether professional occupations are included or not in the analysis. Forecasts for the distribution of legal and illegal characteristics match aggregate imputations by the Department of Homeland Security. We find that, while illegal immigrants suffer a wage penalty compared to legal immigrants, returns to higher education remain large and positive.

Suggested Citation

  • Caponi, Vincenzo & Plesca, Miana, 2013. "Empirical Characteristics of Legal and Illegal Immigrants in the U.S," IZA Discussion Papers 7304, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7304
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ridder, Geert & Moffitt, Robert, 2007. "The Econometrics of Data Combination," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 75, Elsevier.
    2. Lancaster, Tony & Imbens, Guido, 1996. "Case-control studies with contaminated controls," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 145-160.
    3. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    4. Gary Burtless & Audrey Singer, 2011. "The Earnings and Social Security Contributions of Documented and Undocumented Mexican Immigrants," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2011-1, Center for Retirement Research, revised Jan 2011.
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    Cited by:

    1. BURZYNSKI Michal & GOLA Pawel, 2019. "Mexican Migration to the United States: Selection, Assignment, and Welfare," LISER Working Paper Series 2019-10, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    2. Chunbei Wang, 2019. "Tightened Immigration Policies and the Self‐Employment Dynamics of Mexican Immigrants," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 944-977, September.
    3. Michael Good, 2013. "Gravity and Localized Migration," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(4), pages 2445-2453.
    4. Paolo Pinotti, 2017. "Clicking on Heaven's Door: The Effect of Immigrant Legalization on Crime," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(1), pages 138-168, January.
    5. Michael Good, 2013. "Geographic Proximity and the Pro-trade Effect of Migration: State-level Evidence from Mexican Migrants in the United States," 2013 Papers pgo530, Job Market Papers.
    6. Altangerel, Khulan, 2019. "Essays on immigration policy," Other publications TiSEM 954c6300-249e-496c-8cef-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    7. Michael Good, 2012. "How Localized is the Pro-trade Effect of Immigration? Evidence from Mexico and the United States," Working Papers 1203, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    8. Sankar Mukhopadhyay, 2019. "Legal status and immigrants’ educational investment decisions," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-29, March.

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    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration

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