Journal article
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and birth outcomes in California: a quasi-experimental study
BMC public health, Vol.22(1), pp.1449-1449
07/29/2022
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-022-13846-x
PMCID: PMC9338458
PMID: 35906553
Abstract
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provides temporary relief from deportation and work permits for previously undocumented immigrants who arrived as children. DACA faced direct threats under the Trump administration. There is select evidence of the short-term impacts of DACA on population health, including on birth outcomes, but limited understanding of the long-term impacts.
We evaluated the association between DACA program and birth outcomes using California birth certificate data (2009-2018) and a difference-in-differences approach to compare post-DACA birth outcomes for likely DACA-eligible mothers to birth outcomes for demographically similar DACA-ineligible mothers. We also separately compared birth outcomes by DACA eligibility status in the first 3 years after DACA passage (2012-2015) and in the subsequent 3 years (2015-2018) - a period characterized by direct threats to the DACA program - as compared to outcomes in the years prior to DACA passage.
In the 7 years after its passage, DACA was associated with a lower risk of small-for-gestational age (- 0.018, 95% CI: - 0.035, - 0.002) and greater birthweight (45.8 g, 95% CI: 11.9, 79.7) for births to Mexican-origin individuals that were billed to Medicaid. Estimates were consistent but of smaller magnitude for other subgroups. Associations between DACA and birth outcomes were attenuated to the null in the period that began with the announcement of the Trump U.S. Presidential campaign (2015-2018), although confidence intervals overlapped with estimates from the immediate post-DACA period.
These findings suggest weak to modest initial benefits of DACA for select birthweight outcomes during the period immediately following DACA passage for Mexican-born individuals whose births were billed to Medicaid; any benefits were subsequently attenuated to the null. The benefits of DACA for population health may not have been sufficient to counteract the impacts of threats to the program's future and heightened immigration enforcement occurring in parallel over time.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and birth outcomes in California: a quasi-experimental study
- Creators
- Jacqueline M Torres - University of California, San FranciscoEmanuel Alcala - University of California, MercedAmber Shaver - California State University, FresnoDaniel F Collin - University of California, San FranciscoLinda S Franck - University of California, San FranciscoAnu Manchikanti Gomez - University of California, BerkeleyDeborah Karasek - University of California, San FranciscoNichole Nidey - Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical CenterMichael Hotard - Stanford UniversityRita Hamad - University of California, San FranciscoTania Pacheco-Werner - California State University, Fresno
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- BMC public health, Vol.22(1), pp.1449-1449
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12889-022-13846-x
- PMID
- 35906553
- PMCID
- PMC9338458
- NLM abbreviation
- BMC Public Health
- ISSN
- 1471-2458
- eISSN
- 1471-2458
- Grant note
- K12 HD052163 / NICHD NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/29/2022
- Academic Unit
- Epidemiology; Addiction Medicine; Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9984446514802771
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