Undocumented and Under Threat of Deportation: Immigrant Students in the Classroom

Abstract

I examine how undocumented immigrants respond to the threat of deportation by contrasting daily public school attendance among undocumented Hispanic, documented Hispanic, and white students. This is the first study that is able to quantify undocumented individuals’ responses to immigration enforcement. I find that undocumented Hispanic students are acutely responsive to the rollout of a state immigration-enforcement law, with large spikes in absenteeism on days when the law overcomes court challenges. Increased withdrawals from school immediately followed the law clearing federal court. These laws seem to resonate more than Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the local area.