Misinformation, Policy Signals, and Undocumented Migration: Evidence from DACA - 2026

In 2012, DACA shielded undocumented youth already in the United States from deportation, but offered nothing to new arrivals. We show that it nonetheless raised undocumented migration from Mexico and the Northern Triangle. Linking millions of border apprehensions to migrants’ birthplaces, we find that the increase is larger in places with more DACA-age residents and comes not from children but from young adults who fit the program’s age limits yet could never qualify. The pattern is consistent with DACA being misread as an amnesty for newcomers. What a policy signals can matter as much as what it says.

With Jessica Bracco and Reem Zaiour

[Draft coming soon]