Behavioral Studies Debunk Myth that Most Immigrants Will Self-Deport

Kris Kobach, architect of the state immigration enforcement laws, has contended that the laws will encourage undocumented immigrants to “self-deport.” The Immigration Policy Center has released, The Myth of Self-Deportation: How Behavioral Economics Reveals the Fallacies behind “Attrition through Enforcement by Alexandra Filindra, Ph.D., a professor of behavioral economics who argues that those unauthorized immigrants who have put down substantial roots in the United States are unlikely to leave. In fact, preliminary evidence from studies conducted in states where strong enforcement laws have been enacted shows that immigration restrictionists have gotten it wrong. Immigrant populations in these states have remained in place and the predicted exodus has never materialized. This report uses important research findings from cognitive psychology and behavioral economics to explain why people do not behave the way that immigration restrictionists expect them to.

KJ