Abstract
We study how the Secure Communities (SC) program altered Hispanic children’s ethnic self-identification in the American Community Survey. Leveraging staggered SC roll-out across counties, we implement a difference-in-differences strategy to track identification patterns for first- through fourth-generation children. We find that exposure to SC reduces the likelihood that Hispanic children report as Hispanic, with attrition concentrated among children of highly educated parents. Attrition appears across every generation we study, spanning first- through fourth-generation youth. Comparisons across sanctuary and non-sanctuary jurisdictions yield similar declines, indicating that local sanctuary policies do not offset SC-driven identity loss.
Key Figures
The samples in the figures below include first-, second-, and third-generation Hispanic children that are racially White, ages 17 and below who live in intact families. First-generation Hispanic immigrants are children that were born in a Spanish-speaking country. Native-born second-generation Hispanic immigrants are children with at least one parent born in a Spanish-speaking country. Native-born third-generation Hispanic immigrants are children with native-born parents and at least one grandparent born in a Spanish-speaking country.
