DACA's Mixed Impacts on Education and Employment among Young Adult Immigrants in California.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, implemented by executive order in 2012, granted a subset of undocumented youth temporary relief from deportation, work authorization, and other benefits. While various sociological theories predict that legalization will enable immigrant socioeconomic mobility, past research on DACA's effects on education and employment reaches mixed conclusions, possibly reflecting the limitations of different methodological approaches to the question. Using multiple data sources and mixed methods, we analyzed both whether and how DACA impacted education and employment among undocumented immigrants in California. Our difference-in-differences analysis of the 2007-2016 waves of the California Health Interview Study employed a more precise definition of the DACA-eligible population than previous studies, yet we also found few significant, positive impacts of the policy on education and employment. Our analysis of surveys and in-depth interviews collected with DACA recipients in California provides context for this finding. DACA enabled college for some, but discouraged it for others. DACA recipients perceived substantial occupational mobility, but this was not reflected in wage increases or movement out of the secondary labor market for many. Our findings support the perspective that DACA is a form of liminal legality with limited and contingent impacts on socioeconomic integration for immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]