Deportation of criminals and immigration back to the United States: evidence from Central America and Mexico

We show that the deportation of criminals from the United States increased subsequent migration from Central America and Mexico. We focus on a time period in which U.S. policy led to significant increases in the deportation of criminals. Our findings are robust to tests that suggest the documented link is causal and not simply correlational. Finally, we argue that deportation policy shifts the selection of the migrant flow, which becomes skewed more heavily towards female children.