The Impact of

Undocumented

Immigrants in the

United States

By: Danny Rosas-Salas

 ECONOMIC IMPACT

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

has found that undocumented immigrants pay $11.74

billion in taxes a year. The contribution of paid taxes is

different depending on the population of undocumented

immigrants. For example in Montana

has a population of

1,000 undocumented immigrants, and the contribution of

taxes was around $5000. In California it has a population of

around 3 million that are undocumented immigrants, and

their contribution of taxes was around $3.1 billion. (5.)

The Institute on Taxation and

Economy Policy says that on

average undocumented

immigrants in the United States

pay around 8 percent of their

income in state
and local taxes.

In comparison with other

Specifically the current state

people in the United States the

and local tax payments by

top 1 percent of taxpayers on

undocumented immigrants
average pay around 5.4 percent.

in the United States would

(5.)
increase by $2.18 billion a

year if citizenship was

granted to them. $1.8 billion

a year would be the increase

There was a research

of personal income tax

conducted on the economic

collection. $702 million

effect if immigrants and

would be the
increase of
undocumented immigrants

sales and excise tax

received legal status and

collection, and $362 million

citizenship. The analysis of

would be the increase of

the study found that if this

property tax collection. This

occurred then the United

would mean that the share

States GDP would increase

of income paid to local and

by $1.4 trillion over the next

state taxes by
ten years. With $791 billion

undocumented immigrants
of personal income growth,

will increase from 8 percent

and the creation of 203,000

to 8.6 percent (5.) jobs each year. (3.)

 Impact on Society
A study that was conducted over

four decades between 1970

through 2010 found that an

increase in immigration correlated

with a decrease in violent and

property crimes. Violent crimes

involve homicide and assaults, and

property crimes involve burglary

and motor vehicle theft. In another

The United States has recently

study it was found that

experienced the slowest

incarceration rates for immigrants

population growth, and that

are at a low rate. (3.)

means that there will be a

decrease in the working

population. A projection by the

Pew Research Center found that

17.6 million new immigrants will

be added to the working age

population by 2035. This will help

the offset of the amount of

working age immigrants that are

In the Pew Research Center it also

aging or dying. (4.)
mentions that without the new

immigrants that will be added to the

working age population by 2035 the
amount of working age immigrants

will decline by that same year. Also

the total United States working age

population would drop by around 8

million or about 4 percent drop

from the 2015 working age

population.(4.)

A research organization called the

New American Economy says that

about 96.7 percent of Mexican

undocumented immigrants in the

United States are working and

helping the economy in major

industries. These include agriculture

where they make about 11.5
From the data of the 2018

percent of the workforce,

American Community

construction where they make

Survey a study found that

about 6.7 percent of the workforce,

there is an estimation of

and tourism and hospitality services 450,000 or about 2 % of all

they make about 3.4 percent of the
students in higher

workforce. (2.) education in the United

States that are

undocumented

There is a higher demand of public

immigrants, and this

education and higher education in

occured because of the

the United States because in 2016

many in state educational

an estimate was conducted by the

policy reforms that allow

Pew Research Center where it

undocumented

found that around 7.6 percent of

immigrants to pursue

children in schools between the

higher education and pay

grades of kindergarten and 12th

in state tutions. Where 18

grade have parents who are

states in the United States

undocumented immigrants. (1.) include this policy. (1.)

 Citation
(1.) Cebula, Richard J., et al. “Location Choices of Undocumented

Migrants: Does Access to Higher Public Education Matter?”

Growth & Change, vol. 52, no. 1, Mar. 2021, pp. 167–94.

EBSCOhost, https://doi-

org.libprox1.slcc.edu/10.1111/grow.12462.

(2.) Examining the economic contributions of undocumented

immigrants by country of origin. New American Economy

Research Fund. (2021, August 26). Retrieved March 17, 2022,

from

https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/contributions-

of-undocumented-immigrants-by-country/

(3.) Khanna, Gaurav, and Anna Brown. “Better Migrant Rights

Help Native Workers.” UCLA Journal of International Law and

Foreign Affairs, vol. 23, no. 2, Jan. 2019, pp. 293–312.

EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-

com.libprox1.slcc.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edshol&AN=edshol.hein.journals.jilfa23.15&site=ed

s-live&scope=site.

(4.) Passel, J. S., & Cohn, D. V. (2020, May 30). Immigration

projected to drive potential U.S. labor force growth through

2035. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 17, 2022, from

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-

tank/2017/03/08/immigration-projected-to-drive-growth-in-u-
s-working-age-population-through-at-least-2035/

(5.) Undocumented immigrants' state & local tax contributions.

ITEP. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2022, from

https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-state-local-tax-

contributions-2017/ t
 Letter of Goals

and Choices
In the process of my project I found

information that was insightful when I was

doing research, for I discovered numbers

and statistics that I wasn't aware of. Before

doing this project I knew that

undocumented immigrants had an impact

on the United States, for I knew that they

affected the economy and the workforce of

the country by doing a variety of jobs. The

things that I didn’t know was the amount on

how much they impacted the economy of

the United States, whether it was positive or

negative, and if there were other impacts

that they had in the country. That was the

main reason why I conducted this project

was to find information on numbers and

statistics of the impacts that undocumetned

immigrants had in the United States, and be

able to write and inform my reader about

the research that I found. Some of the

information that I found insightful that I was

unaware of was that undocumented

immgrants paid billions of dolloars in taxes,

and also they had the potential to increase

the economy of the United States if they

were granted citizenship. I also learned that

they decreased the crime rates throughout

the United States. Undocumented

immigrants also impacted the workforce by

increasing the amount of workers to the

aging population, and being in a variety of

jobs. Lastly, I learned that there were

thousands of undocumented immigrants

inolved in reciving a higher education, and a

large majority of childern have

undocumented parents. Learning about all

of this important information I decided that

add it into my project, so that I can be able

to inform my audience about the large

impact that undocumented immigrants had

in the United States.

(Word Count: 286)