Social Rights for Whom? How Immigration Policy Environments Impact the Welfare Participation of Immigrants

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 03. Anti-immigrant policies & consequences

Abstract

The steady influx of immigration to the United Sates has coincided with a rise in anti-immigrant policies over the last few decades. In particular, access to federally funded welfare programs has become one of the most highly contested areas of immigrant participation and incorporation in the US. This rise in anti-immigrant policies has coincided with a decrease in welfare enrollment among eligible immigrants and their family members. This trend raises question, under what policy conditions do immigrants activate and/or avoid their social rights? To answer this, I utilize ACS data between 2012-2019 to run a multivariate regression with state and year fixed effects to examine how variation in immigration policy climates (IPC) affects the probability of Medicaid program enrollment among naturalized immigrants relative to US-born citizens. The immigration policy climate score (IPC) is a composite, continuous measure between -12 and +12 that captures how inclusionary or exclusionary a state is towards immigrants. Results indicate that immigrants in states with more exclusionary policy contexts have a lower probability of Medicaid enrollment. Moreover, results vary by racial/ethnic status, suggesting that the effect of immigrant policy contexts negatively affects Hispanic immigrants more prominently that other racial/ethnic groups. These findings suggest that policy environments may mediate the activation of social rights and the integration of immigrants and their families, regardless of legal status.

Author

• Clara Alvarez Caraveo, University of Southern California