Abstract
Using a panel of naturalizations in the United States from 1965 to 2012, we empirically analyze the impact of elections on naturalization policy. Our results indicate that naturalization policy is (partly) driven by national elections: there are more naturalizations in presidential election years and during the terms of Democratic incumbents. To disentangle the effect of government policies from changes in the demand for naturalizations, we examine how the acceptance rate of naturalization petitions is affected by elections. The analysis reveals that the acceptance rate is much higher under Democratic incumbents with the strongest increase during the years that are closer to the next presidential election. In contrast, (almost) no variation is found under a Republican incumbent. We then investigate the dynamics of an incumbent’s behavior over the course of his term in detail. Our findings indicate that the effects are more pronounced in politically contested states, in states with many migrants and for immigrants originating from Latin America.
Highlights
On June 18, 1798, the U.S Congress, under the influence of the Federalist political party, passed the Naturalization Act, which increased the period of residence required before immigrants were eligible to become naturalized and obtain citizenship from 5 to 14 years.1 Both contemporary witnesses and present historians agree that the law was intended to decrease the number of voters, mostly Irish and French immigrants, who supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, the Federalists’ major political rival at that time.2 Jefferson won the upcoming election and during his term the Naturalization Act of 1798 was repealed by the Naturalization Law of 1802, which restored the five-year waiting period for naturalization
In the first set of regressions, we look for the existence of an electoral cycle and a partisan effect in the number of naturalizations by state and year based on our basic Equation (1)
We find clear evidence of an electoral cycle in the number of naturalizations across all specifications that amounts to an increase of roughly 5 percent in presidential election years
Summary
On June 18, 1798, the U.S Congress, under the influence of the Federalist political party, passed the Naturalization Act, which increased the period of residence required before immigrants were eligible to become naturalized and obtain citizenship from 5 to 14 years. Both contemporary witnesses and present historians agree that the law was intended to decrease the number of voters, mostly Irish and French immigrants, who supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, the Federalists’ major political rival at that time. Jefferson won the upcoming election and during his term the Naturalization Act of 1798 was repealed by the Naturalization Law of 1802, which restored the five-year waiting period for naturalization. On June 18, 1798, the U.S Congress, under the influence of the Federalist political party, passed the Naturalization Act, which increased the period of residence required before immigrants were eligible to become naturalized and obtain citizenship from 5 to 14 years.. On June 18, 1798, the U.S Congress, under the influence of the Federalist political party, passed the Naturalization Act, which increased the period of residence required before immigrants were eligible to become naturalized and obtain citizenship from 5 to 14 years.1 Both contemporary witnesses and present historians agree that the law was intended to decrease the number of voters, mostly Irish and French immigrants, who supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, the Federalists’ major political rival at that time.. Prior to March 1, 2003, the functions performed by the USCIS were carried out by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), which was restructured in the course of the major reorganization of most federal services related to homeland security in the aftermath of
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