Is immigration enforcement shaping immigrant marriage patterns?

This paper identifies intermarriage (between non-citizens and citizens) as an important response mechanism to intensified immigration enforcement, particularly among Mexican non-citizens. Exploiting the temporal and geographic variation in the implementation of interior immigration enforcement from 2005 to 2017, we find that a one standard deviation increase in enforcement raises Mexican non-citizens' likelihood of marrying a U.S. citizen by 3 to 7%. Both police-based and employment-based enforcement contribute to this impact. The analysis adds to a growing literature examining how immigrants respond to tightened enforcement and, importantly, sheds light on the recent growth of intermarriage among Mexican immigrants. •Immigration Enforcement raises the intermarriage rate of Mexican non-citizens.•The increase is driven by a change in spousal preference, as opposed to changes in the marriage rate.•Intermarriages to both U.S. natives and to naturalized migrants increased, underscoring the role of citizenship as a key factor in spousal choice.