INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH

How Immigration Laws Influence Family Planning

New study shows links between immigration policies and how many kids Hispanic adults want

Many factors shape how many children adults want—including external events and threats. For example, a quarter of Americans say concerns about climate change have made them consider having fewer kids. 

Immigration policies may also influence how people think about their ideal family size, especially among groups who see these policies as a threat.

A new study by IPR sociologist Julia Behrman and Abigail Weitzman of the University of Texas at Austin investigates the connection between U.S. immigration policy and Hispanic adults’ ideal family size. They discovered that in states with more punitive immigration policies, Hispanic adults want more children than Hispanic adults do in states without these policies.

“As someone who studies ideal family size and other childbearing norms, I was particularly interested in exploring how policies affect the childbearing norms of those most affected [by immigration policies],” Behrman explained, noting that the dramatic scale and scope of U.S. immigration policies made them compelling to study.

Since the mid-2000s, states have enacted an unprecedented number of immigration policies. They include restrictive policies such as Secure Communities, which increased data-sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement, and E-verify mandates, which are used to confirm the work eligibility of employees and restrict undocumented migrants’ jobs. Other states have passed sanctuary policies to protect immigrants from arrest or detention.

Behrman says immigration policies, though targeted at undocumented migrants, can impact the entire Hispanic population because of racial profiling. Others might fear these policies because members of their household are not documented.

To understand how different immigration policies influence the ideal family size of Hispanics, the researchers combined information on state-level immigration policies across time with data from the General Social Survey (GSS). They used GSS data collected between 2006 and 2018 from 3,977 non-Hispanic White and Hispanic adults. The survey included the question: “What do you think is the ideal number of children for a family to have?”

They grouped states into four policy categories: those with multiple restrictive policies called “omnibus immigration policies,” E-verify mandates, sanctuary policies, or no immigration policies. They also estimated which Hispanic survey respondents were unlikely to be documented.

The researchers show that Hispanic adults’ ideal family size was much higher compared to non-Hispanic White adults in states with omnibus immigration policies versus in states without those policies. In states with omnibus policies, Hispanic and White adults’ average ideal number of children was 3.16 and 2.56, respectively. In states without immigration policies, Hispanic adults wanted, on average, 2.62 kids, and White adults wanted 2.49 kids. 

“Interestingly, we find that sanctuary policies, which aim to curb federal immigration enforcement, and E-verify mandates, which aim to curb the employment of undocumented immigrants, are not associated with significant differences in ideal family sizes,” Behrman said.

She says the gap in ideal family size between Hispanic and White adults in states with restrictive policies was especially large among Hispanic adults who are likely undocumented.

The researchers speculate that the threat of restrictive policies might make Hispanics look for comfort in having more children and investing in family. These adults might also want larger families to cope with deportations and the loss of family and community members.

This study sheds light on the way immigration policies affect the reproductive lives of the U.S. Hispanic population. It also shows the importance of including social norms about family size in research about the impact of migration policies on fertility. 

“Our analyses provide important insights into the unanticipated ways in which immigrant policies impact Hispanics’ reproductive and family life in the context of a rapidly changing U.S. immigrant policy climate,” Behrman said.

Julia Behrman is assistant professor of sociology and an IPR fellow.

Photo credit: iStock

Published: September 3, 2024.