DACA Helps Undocumented Immigrants Attain Success

A new working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research argues that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program had a “significant impact” on the educational and life decisions of undocumented immigrant youth, resulting in a 45 percent decrease in teen birth rates, a 15 percent increase in high school graduation rates and a 20 percent increase in college enrollment rates. The researchers found differential effects by gender, with most of the gains in college enrollment concentrated among women. For men alone, the effect of DACA on college enrollment was not statistically significant.

Kuka, E., Shenhav, N., & Shih, K. (2018). Do human capital decisions respond to the returns to education?: NBER Working Paper No. 24315. Evidence from DACA. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/papers/w24315