THE EFFECT OF SELECTIVE INS MONITORING STRATEGIES ON THE INDUSTRIAL EMPLOYMENT CHOICE AND EARNINGS OF RECENT IMMIGRANTS

One effect of 1986's immigration reform was to make INS inspection of farms more costly relative to other industries. In response, we sugges t, the INS refocused ifs enforcement efforts toward industries with a higher concentration of illegals per establishment, especially manufac turing. We test this hypotheses and model the effects of a selective m onitoring strategy on the employment choice and wages of illegal worke rs. We find evidence of selective monitoring by the INS and that this policy has redistributed illegal workers from closely to weakly monito red industries. Specifically, we find a shift from the higher-paying m anufacturing sector to the agricultural.