Parents' Immigration Status and Children's Education: Keeping Out the Children

• In Event: 49.063 - Immigration

Abstract

Mexican-origin people in the United States have fewer years of education than nearly any other racial and ethnic group in the United States. Recent research suggests that undocumented status may play a role in their low educational attainment. We build on this research using Buroways (1977) conception of reserve labor systems to understand how the effects of immigration status also occur at the border by affecting children’s country of education. We analyze these predictions with data from the Mexican Migration Project. Results are generally consistent with Buroway’s model. Children with documented parents attain much more school than children with undocumented parents they differ in their country of birth and age of migration.

Author

• Pat Rubio Goldsmith, Texas A&M University - College Station