Deferred Action for Unauthorized Immigrant Parents: Analysis of DAPA's Potential Effects on Families and Children

by Randy Capps, Heather Koball, James D. Bachmeier, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Jie Zong, and Julia Gelatt

This article originally appeared on Migration Policy Institute. Copyright © 2001-2016 Migration Policy Institute. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission

About The Author

Randy Capps is Director of Research for U.S. Programs at the Migration Policy Institute. His areas of expertise include immigration trends, the unauthorized population, immigrants in the U.S. labor force, the children of immigrants and their well-being, and immigrant health-care and public benefits access and use.

Heather Koball is a Senior Fellow in the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute, where her areas of expertise include immigration and at-risk youth. Koball has directed multiple projects on issues faced by children of immigrants, including access to public benefits among immigrant families, the implications of the Affordable Care Act for immigrants' health care, and immigrant integration in new destination areas. Her research also focuses on programs to improve the well-being of at-risk youth. As coprincipal investigator of the Opportunities Youth project, she is developing and evaluating interventions to improve the employment outcomes of disconnected youth. She is also principal investigator for an evaluation of after-school programs in New York City that aim to improve youths’ social and emotional development.

James D. Bachmeier is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Temple University. His research is focused on patterns of immigrant incorporation in the United States, illegal migration, and the measurement of immigrant legal status. He is an MPI Nonresident Fellow.

Ariel G. Ruiz Soto is a Research Assistant at the Migration Policy Institute, where he provides quantitative research support across MPI programs. His research areas focus on the impact of U.S. immigration policies on immigrants’ experiences of socioeconomic integration across varying geographical and political contexts. More recently, Mr. Ruiz Soto has analyzed methodological approaches to estimate sociodemographic trends of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States.

Jie Zong is a Research Assistant at the Migration Policy Institute, where she provides quantitative research support across MPI programs, particularly the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. Her research areas include structural and cultural integration of first- and second-generation immigrants, protective factors for children in refugee families, and workforce development in the United States.

Julia Gelatt is a Research Associate at the Urban Institute, in its Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population. Her research focuses on immigration, child well-being, and early education.