Border Enforcement and the Sorting and Commuting Patterns of Hispanics

55 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2021

Date Written: March 15, 2021

Abstract

I analyze the effects of immigration enforcement by the U.S. Border Patrol on the sorting and commuting patterns of Hispanics. Using a regression discontinuity design based on a 100-Mile Border Zone, which permits Border Patrol agents to conduct warrantless searches within 100 air miles of the U.S. border, I find that the share of Hispanics in southwestern states increases outside the Border Zone. This sorting effect disappears, however, when focusing on within-county differences in shares of Hispanics. I also find no significant commuting effect on Hispanics at the 100-mile cutoff. On the contrary, I show that Hispanics near Border Patrol checkpoints inside the Border Zone exhibit significantly different commuting patterns, commuting at lower probabilities toward checkpoints and over shorter distances than non-Hispanics.

Keywords: immigration enforcement, Hispanic sorting, commuting

JEL Classification: K37, J15, R41

Suggested Citation

Cho, Heepyung, Border Enforcement and the Sorting and Commuting Patterns of Hispanics (March 15, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3804625 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3804625

Heepyung Cho (Contact Author)

Korea University ( email )

1 Anam-dong 5 ka
Seoul, 136-701

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
37
Abstract Views
297
PlumX Metrics