Welfare Burden and Immigration Policy: Determinants of Stricter Controls on Undocumented Immigrants by U.S. State Governments

This article aims to investigate the determinants that drive U.S. state governments to impose stricter controls on undocumented immigrants. Through a quantitative analysis, this article examines how each of state governments’ financial burden of welfare and citizen sentiment toward undocumented immigrants affect the intensity of controls on undocumented immigrants by state governments. The analysis shows that an increase in financial burden arising from state government welfare is a factor influencing the tightening of controls on undocumented immigrants by state governments. However, citizen sentiment toward undocumented immigrants does not have a significant influence on the tightening of controls on undocumented immigrants