Reports: Immigration programs benefit the economy, families

Undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. collectively pay about $11.64 billion yearly in state and local taxes, a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found.

This week’s report comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case this term challenging President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The programs Obama launched last year, which aim to shield as many as 5 million immigrants in the country illegally from deportation, have been on hold since a federal judge ruled that Texas and 25 other states have a legitimate basis to challenge the programs.

{mosads}While the states argue the programs would financially burden them, the institute’s report found that granting legal status to those 5 million immigrants could boost current state and local tax contributions by more than $805 million.

“Republican leaders challenging these executive actions on immigration should be ashamed,” Lynn Tramonte, deputy director of America’s Voice, said in a news release. “They are playing politics with their constituents’ lives and are denying their states needed tax revenue. It is time for the Supreme Court to put this partisan lawsuit to bed, and save our states from the irresponsible ‘leaders’ who put us down this path.”

A second study from the Migration Policy Institute and the Urban Institute found that under the president’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, families could see a 10 percent increase in income.

The report said the average family could expect to earn $3,000 more if potentially DAPA-eligible parents obtained work authorization and earned the same as legal U.S. parents, who are the same age and have the same education, proficiency in English and length of U.S. residency.