Dreamers and Beyond: Examining the Broader Educational Effects of DACA

Abstract

This paper examines the direct effects and spillover effects of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) on human capital investments during high school. DACA significantly increased the returns to schooling for undocumented youth, while leaving the returns for their US-born peers unchanged. I estimate the impacts of DACA using detailed administrative data from Los Angeles Unified School District. I find that DACA induced undocumented youth to invest more in their education, which also had positive spillover effects on ineligible students (those born in the US) who attended high school with high concentrations of DACA-eligible youth.