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1. Paths to Mobility: A Longitudinal Evaluation of Earnings Among Latino/a DACA Recipients in California

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764221996746  

   Patler, Caitlin; Hale, Jo Mhairi; Hamilton, Erin (March 2021, American Behavioral Scientist)

   null (Ed.)

   Undocumented immigration status is a structural barrier to socioeconomic mobility. The regularization of legal status may therefore promote the socioeconomic mobility of formerly undocumented immigrants. The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program provided protection against deportation and access to work authorization for eligible undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. While studies using cross-sectional data find that DACA led to improved socioeconomic status, no studies have examined the socioeconomic status of DACA recipients over time and few have disaggregated among groups of DACA recipients. Drawing from one of the only longitudinal studies of DACA recipients, we use growth curve models to estimate individuals’ wage trajectories from the year prior to DACA receipt up to 77 months post-DACA receipt among Latino/a DACA participants in California. In this sample, DACA is associated with improved earnings trajectories for recipients, compared with nonrecipients. Among DACA recipients, there is variation in earnings growth by stage of the life course, as measured by age and educational attainment. Notably, DACA tenure appears to be particularly beneficial for individuals who attain DACA at earlier ages and who earn college degrees. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of immigration laws and policies in structuring immigrant integration and socioeconomic mobility in the United States. 

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2. The Life-Course Timing of Legalization: Evidence from the DACA Program

   https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211058958  

   Hamilton, Erin R.; Patler, Caitlin; Langer, Paola D. (January 2021, Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World)

   The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created to mitigate some of the harmful consequences of undocumented immigration status. Although research shows that the DACA program promoted employment outcomes for the average DACA recipient, life-course theory and immigrant integration theory suggest that the program may differentially affect younger and older recipients. Using data from the American Community Survey, the authors test whether DACA was associated with different education and employment outcomes for younger and older Mexican immigrants. The results indicate that DACA was associated with increases in the likelihood of working among younger but not older DACA-eligible individuals and with greater decreases in the likelihood of school enrollment among younger DACA-eligible individuals. These results suggest that policy makers should ensure that opportunities to permanently legalize status are available to immigrants as early as possible in the life course. 

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3. Transition into Liminal Legality: DACA’s Mixed Impacts on Education and Employment among Young Adult Immigrants in California

   https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spaa016  

   Hamilton, Erin R; Patler, Caitlin; Savinar, Robin (May 2020, Social Problems)

   Abstract The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, implemented by executive order in 2012, granted a subset of undocumented youth temporary relief from deportation, work authorization, and other benefits. While theories of immigrant integration predict that legalization will enable immigrant socioeconomic mobility, past research on DACA’s effects on education and employment have reached mixed conclusions, possibly reflecting the limitations of different methodological approaches to the question. Using multiple data sources and mixed methods, we analyzed both whether and how DACA impacted education and employment among undocumented immigrants in California. Our difference-in-differences analysis of the 2007–2017 waves of the California Health Interview Study employs a more precise definition of the DACA-eligible population than previous studies, yet we also find mixed effects. Our analysis of surveys and in-depth interviews collected with DACA recipients in California provides context for this finding. DACA enabled college for some, but discouraged it for others. DACA recipients perceived substantial occupational mobility, but this was not reflected in movement out of the secondary labor market for many. Our findings suggest that without access to permanent legal status, DACA recipients will experience liminal legality with limited and contingent impacts on socioeconomic integration. 

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4. Comparing birth timing for Weddell seal ( Leptonychotes weddelli, L ) pups born to immigrant vs locally born mothers in Erebus Bay, Antarctica

   https://doi.org/10.1017/S095410202510045X  

   Brown, Abram S; Levinson, Parker M; Rotella, Jay J (November 2025, Antarctic Science)

   Reproductive synchrony is common in populations that inhabit seasonal environments where reproductive timing is important to offspring survival. Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) reproduce in strongly seasonal Antarctic environments and are known to exhibit reproductive synchrony that varies by latitude, whereby more southerly populations give birth later. The Erebus Bay population of Weddell seals is the southernmost mammal population in the world, and birth-date synchrony has been demonstrated in this population. Various life history correlates including sex, maternal age and reproductive status have been identified as predictors of birth timing, but all prior work has been done on pups born to locally born mothers. Immigrant females originating from unknown sites in more northerly locations also produce pups in Erebus Bay and may have different birth timing due to the earlier average birth dates in their natal colonies. Using 22 years of capture-mark-recapture data for Weddell seals in Erebus Bay, we aimed to assess whether the timing of birth dates for pups born to immigrant mothers differs from that of pups born to locally born mothers. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a comparison has been studied in a wild population. Birth dates were examined using Bayesian linear regression. We analysed birth dates from 7539 pups (4932 from locally born mothers, 2607 from immigrant mothers) born to 2210 mothers (1254 locally born, 956 immigrant) and found that there were no biologically impactful differences in the birth dates of pups born to locally born or immigrant mothers. Additionally, birth-date patterns for immigrant mothers were similar to those for locally born mothers with respect to various traits. Our results demonstrate that immigrant Weddell seal mothers can synchronize birth timing with locally born mothers. More research is required to understand the underlying mechanisms that allow for immigrant seals to achieve birth-date synchrony. 

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5. Maternal epigenetic clocks measured during pregnancy do not predict gestational age at delivery or offspring birth outcomes: a replication study in metropolitan Cebu, Philippines

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s13148-022-01296-6  

   Ryan, Calen P.; Rege, Raviraj J.; Lee, Nanette R.; Carba, Delia B.; Kobor, Michael S.; MacIsaac, Julie L.; Lin, David S.; Atashzay, Parmida; Kuzawa, Christopher W. (December 2022, Clinical Epigenetics)

   Abstract Adverse birth outcomes, such as early gestational age and low birth weight, can have lasting effects on morbidity and mortality, with impacts that persist into adulthood. Identifying the maternal factors that contribute to adverse birth outcomes in the next generation is thus a priority. Epigenetic clocks, which have emerged as powerful tools for quantifying biological aging and various dimensions of physiological dysregulation, hold promise for clarifying relationships between maternal biology and infant health, including the maternal factors or states that predict birth outcomes. Nevertheless, studies exploring the relationship between maternal epigenetic age and birth outcomes remain few. Here, we attempt to replicate a series of analyses previously reported in a US-based sample, using a larger similarly aged sample ( n  = 296) of participants of a long-running study in the Philippines. New pregnancies were identified prospectively, dried blood spot samples were collected during the third trimester, and information was obtained on gestational age at delivery and offspring weight after birth. Genome-wide DNA methylation was assessed with the Infinium EPIC array. Using a suite of 15 epigenetic clocks, we only found one significant relationship: advanced age on the epigenetic clock trained on leptin predicted a significantly earlier gestational age at delivery ( β  = − 0.15, p  = 0.009). Of the other 29 relationships tested predicting gestational age and offspring birth weight, none were statistically significant. In this sample of Filipino women, epigenetic clocks capturing multiple dimensions of biology and health do not predict birth outcomes in offspring. 

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