STUDY FINDS FEWER JOBS REQUIRES US CITIZENSHIP

The first major study on state laws requiring US citizenship for employment in over 20 years has just been released by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute.  The study focused on five states, California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas (which have over 70% of the US’s immigrant population), and examined 23 occupations that require a license from the state.  Overall, restrictions on the employment of noncitizens have dropped significantly since the last major study was released in 1977.   

In 1977, Illinois excluded noncitizens from 18 of 23 licensed professions, California 3, Florida 11, New York 11, and Texas 13.  Today, California, Florida and Texas have no such restrictions.  Illinois and New York have restrictions only on the teaching profession, and each state will license a noncitizen as a teacher for a probationary period during which they must apply for citizenship.

The authors of the report credit the change to court rulings finding such employment restrictions a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which applies to all people in the US, whether citizens or not.  Another significant factor behind the change was the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement.  Illinois dropped its citizenship restrictions as a direct response to NAFTA.

The professions examined in the study ranged from attorney, accountants, doctors, nurses, cosmetologists and embalmers.  The study did not examine jobs that are considered “political” that states are allowed to restrict to citizens only.  The authors did note that many jobs are considered “political” for licensing purposes, but seem to have little to do with politics, such as cemetery guards and food inspectors.

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