Border Enforcement

Do undocumented immigrants pay taxes?

Undocumented Immigrants play a crucial role in the U.S. economy, not only through their labor but also through substantial tax contributions that support public services and government programs.

  • In 2022, households led by undocumented immigrants paid $75.6B in total taxes. This includes:
    • $29.0B in state and local taxes
    • $46.6B in federal taxes
  • In 2022, approximately 4.5% of the U.S. workforce was undocumented.
  • 89.8% of undocumented immigrants are of working age.

Our Map the Impact tool shows the tax contributions of immigrants at the national, state and local level.

Recent Features

All Border Enforcement Content

May 19, 2016

Residents along the U.S.-Mexico border in Western Texas and New Mexico face repeated abuse from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP’s) Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers at ports of...

April 28, 2016

Earlier this month, the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC) voted to change the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which in some cases will lead to increased sentences for those convicted of “Unlawfully...

April 7, 2016

26 Mexican nationals say the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deported them from the El Paso Border Patrol sector, which covers West Texas and all of New Mexico, without their identification...

March 24, 2016

As part of its announced efforts to become more transparent and accountable, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just released the results of a review of its processes for handling...

March 17, 2016

When Donald Trump speaks of the Great Wall he would build between the United States and Mexico, he fails to account for a few inconvenient facts. For instance, there are millions of men, women,...

March 11, 2016

Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) use-of-force policies are once again under a microscope after a new report written by former Baltimore police commissioner and Justice Department official...

Publication Date: 
February 1, 2016
The unprecedented levels of crime and violence that have overwhelmed the Northern Triangle countries in recent years have produced a refugee situation for those directly in the line of fire, making...
January 13, 2016

Washington D.C.—On Monday, a federal district court permitted a class action lawsuit challenging harmful and unconstitutional conditions of confinement by Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

Publication Date: 
December 17, 2015
These accounts reveal the dehumanizing conditions to which these women were subjected while in Border Patrol custody.
Publication Date: 
October 22, 2015
This Practice Advisory focuses on the meaning of “admission” in four very specific, but frequently encountered situations: a “wave-through” at a port of entry; and entry based on misrepresentation; an entry based on a false claim to U.S. citizenship; and the grant of TPS as an admission for purposes of adjustment of status.

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