Undocumented Migration, Regularization and Citizenship in the Southern Cone

Abstract

In 2004 the Argentine government established that migration is a human right and launched a large regularization program that benefit almost 0.5 million people, mostly from neighboring countries, or 29% of the migrant population. Despite substantial normative and legal literature praising the in-form content of the legislation, little empirical research assesses its real effects due to lack of microdata. This paper exploits variation in treatment intensity and finds more nuanced results. The regularization program positively correlates with higher access to non-contributory pensions and to formal jobs among female migrants; but did not increase education and male access to formal jobs. Moreover, the regularization program positively correlates with a higher propensity to pay a simplified self-employed tax, but also with a higher propensity to illegally rent and occupy land in shantytowns. In countries where the law is only partially enforced, transforming irregular migrants into citizens who have full access to their rights, and who comply with their civic duties, requires more than well-intentioned legislation.