Undocumented Immigrants Are Taxpayers And Are Stakeholders In The U.S.

Undocumented immigrants are tax contributors and have become stakeholders in the country, which have already paid for the privilege to earn immigration legalization with a path to U.S. citizenship.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

May 2, 2021

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - At the May 1, 2021 Voces de la Frontera (VDLF) annual International Worker's Day march during the COVID-19 pandemic to remind President Joe Biden to fulfill his promise to enact a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill with a path to citizenship for more than 11M undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Undocumented immigrants pay billions of tax dollars to the U.S. and most don't file for reimbursement at the end of the year. https://bit.ly/3unBATW

The march began at VDLF's new office at the 700 block of W. Historic Mitchell Street and ended at the Milwaukee downtown federal court where U.S. Senator Ron Johnson's (R) office is located. Johnson is anti-immigrant and doesn't support immigration reform or driver licenses for undocumented drivers in Wisconsin. There are currently 14 states in the U.S. that offer driver licenses to undocumented immigrants as a driving safety initiative.

The 14 states that have passed a road safety law to offer driver licenses to undocumented drivers are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Also, Wisconsin undocumented immigrants pay more than $90M of combine taxes annually.

Just in case you or Biden didn't know, Wisconsin and Mexico have a trade agreement, which Mexico contributes more than $3.05B into the state's economy. 

When former President Obama took office, the U.S was facing a recession heading to a depression, but the billions of tax dollars that undocumented workers paid to the IRS suspended account save the country from going into a depression. They also pay billions of tax dollars into Social Security, which they don't qualify to collect when they retire. https://bit.ly/3gW5MC0

• In Wisconsin, undocumented immigrants paid $21,7 million in personal income, $6.1 million in property taxes and $66.5 million in sale taxes in 2010 totaling at least $94.4M, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy study.

• Undocumented workers in Texas pay $11.6B annually in taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

• Undocumented immigrants paid $35B within 10 years to the Medicare Trust Fund even when they don't qualify for benefits. (HNNUSA/Hispanic News Network U.S.A.)

• The Social Security Administration reported that in the Earning Suspense File has $1.3T in taxes in earn wages, which most of it was collected from undocumented immigrants.  (The Atlantic)

• In 2014, Stephen Goss, the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration told Vice News that in the last decade, an estimated 11M undocumented immigrants reside in the U.S. and about 7M are unauthorized workers and 3.1M of those worked with fake or expired Social Security numbers and paid automatic payroll taxes to the federal government. In 2010, a $13B annual net contribution was made to the Social Security Trust Fund.

In the last ten years, unauthorized workers have paid an estimated $100B into the trust fund and most of the unauthorized workers will never benefit from their tax contributions later in life, according to Goss. 

Undocumented taxpaying immigrants have already earned and paid for their right to be legalized today.

It's time for the Republican controlled legislature in Wisconsin and Governor Tony Evers (D) to provide driver licenses or permits for the undocumented drivers in the state.

In D.C., a group of undocumented workers staged a street blockage and an act of civil disobedience called "Papers Not Crumbs" organized by the Movimiento Cosecha on May 1st in protest near the White House in Washington, D.C. against the Biden administration and the Democrat controlled U S. Congress for their lack to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill with a path to citizenship during Biden's first 100 days in office.