Poster #37 - Enclaves as Buffers or Amplifiers? Immigrant Communities and the Chilling Effect of Welfare Policy

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

Policy shocks often generate uneven impacts across communities, particularly when fear and misinformation shape household decision-making. The 2018 announcement of the public charge rule revision serves as a key example, where mixed-status households reduced participation in essential safety net programs like SNAP and Medicaid, not due to ineligibility, but due to fear that benefit usage could affect immigration status. This study investigates how immigrant enclaves, both residential and workplace-based, influenced community responses to this policy-induced uncertainty.

While the public charge rule was applied uniformly nationwide, responses were far from uniform. Immigrant enclaves—geographic and social concentrations of immigrants sharing a common country of origin—can act as powerful networks for information exchange. These spaces may either amplify fears through rapid diffusion of misinformation or foster collective resilience by circulating accurate knowledge and mutual support. Prior research has largely focused on enclaves in the context of labor market outcomes; little is known about how these social structures mediate reactions to nationwide policy changes, particularly in terms of welfare participation.

This project introduces a holistic approach by defining enclave exposure in two dimensions:

1. 
   

   Residential Enclaves – measured using country-of-origin-specific immigrant concentration index at the PUMA level.

   
   


2. 
   

   Workplace Enclaves – identified through lower English proficiency and active labor force participation, recognizing that workplaces are critical sites where immigrants spend significant time and engage in information exchange beyond their neighborhoods.
   
   

   
   

Using 1-year ACS data and 5-year ACS data, this study uses a triple-differences (DDD) framework to evaluate whether mixed-status households living and/or working in enclave settings experienced sharper declines in SNAP and Medicaid participation following the policy change announcement. To complement this analysis, spatial visualizations using QGIS illustrate pre- and post-policy changes in benefit enrollment, offering a geographic lens to understand where chilling effects were most pronounced.

By bridging spatial data visualization with rigorous quantitative methods, this research sheds light on how immigrant communities' social environments shape policy outcomes. The findings aim to inform policymakers about the dual role of enclaves—as potential risk factors in spreading fear, but also as platforms for building resilience through targeted outreach and trusted networks.

In alignment with the theme of “Forging Collaborations for Transformative and Resilient Policy Solutions,” this study emphasizes the importance of recognizing community dynamics when designing and implementing federal policies. Understanding enclave effects provides a pathway for developing equity-focused interventions, ensuring that vulnerable populations are not disproportionately harmed by policy uncertainty. Policymakers, advocates, and service providers can leverage these insights to build more effective communication strategies within immigrant-dense areas, mitigating unintended consequences in future policy contexts.

Author

• Wanting Jiang, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  Presenting Author