The effect of recent technological change on US immigration policy

Does technological change shape immigration policy in the United States? I argue that if technological change tilts the composition of workers towards manual employment, this leads to a more restrictive immigration policy. A theoretical model and empirical evidence analyzing voting on immigration bills in the House of Representatives supports this. Policy makers representing districts exposed to manual-biased technological change are more likely to support restricting low-skill immigration. Results are confirmed using specific automation technologies: IT capital and industrial robot adoption. The analysis is completed by (i) additional results on trade policy and political polarization, (ii) further stylized evidence on the mechanism.