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Undocumented immigrants pay US$11.6 billion per year in taxes, and perhaps more, according to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
While making up less than 3 percent of the U.S. population, undocumented immigrants account for 8 percent of local and state tax revenue, the group found.
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"Regardless of the politically contentious nature of immigration reform, the data show undocumented immigrants greatly contribute to our nation's economy, not just in labor but also with tax dollars," said Meg Wiehe, the institute's State Tax Policy Director.
"With immigration policy playing a key role in state and national debates and President Obama's 2014 executive action facing review by the Supreme Court, accurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants is needed now more than ever," she added.
If Obama's executive action measures, taken in 2012 and 2014, to protect some undocumented immigrants from deportation are upheld by the Supreme Court, tax revenues would increase by about $805 million, according to the report.
We need to halt deportations, pass the DREAM Act, & create a path to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding undocumented immigrants.
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) 21 February 2016
California, Texas, New York and Florida benefit the most from the increased tax revenue as the states with the largest immigrant populations.
Meanwhile, if comprehensive immigration reform were to provide a path to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, an additional US$2.1 billion per year would end up in public coffers.
For that to happen, though, the political climate in the U.S. will have to change. Earlier this week, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz vowed to deport all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. — and to build a wall to keep others out, echoing a call from Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
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