Does Employer-Based Immigration Enforcement Reduce the Undocumented Immigrant Population? Re-examining the Effects of LAWA

This paper replicates Bohn, Lofstrom, and Raphael (2014), who use the synthetic control method to estimate the effects of Arizona’s Legal Arizona Workers Act (LAWA) on the state’s likely unauthorized immigrant population. Our narrow replication confirms their main finding: LAWA led to a 1.5–2 percentage point decline in the noncitizen Hispanic share. In a wide replication, we apply the augmented synthetic control method and synthetic difference-in-differences and extend the sample through 2015. The core finding is robust to these alternatives, though the effect attenuates after 2011. Migration data suggest responses along both outflow and inflow margins.