The Facts about Immigration
Immigrants are not a drag on New Mexico’s economy.
They are a net benefit.
CRIME:
TAXES:
In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $153.8 million in state and local taxes.
Taxes paid by undocumented immigrants are greater than the cost to educate their children.
COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM:
Granting legal status to NM undocumented immigrants and allowing them to work here legally would boost their state and providing work authorization for undocumented immigrants would boost New Mexico's annual state and local tax contributions by $20.3 million, from $153.8 million to $174.1 million. These funds would come from increased personal income, sales, and property taxes, as legal status is linked to higher wages and the ability to pay into the tax system more fully. . Source: ITEP
THE BORDER:
We must and we will protect our border. Smart technology can do it better – and cheaper – than a wall.
Learn more: The “smarter” wall: How drones, sensors, and AI are patrolling the border
"In this 21st century, we have challenges, and I think we can use 21st-century solutions instead of a 14th-century solution called the wall,” said [Henry Cuellar (D-TX)] in an interview with the technology news site Recode. “Even if you put in a fence, ‘bad guys’ can use drones to carry drugs over that fence. So we have to be more flexible, more agile.”
Politicians who control the purse for security spending find a smart wall’s cost-effectiveness is appealing over extending a physical wall that could cost millions of dollars per mile. Source: Brookings Institution
In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $153.8 million in state and local taxes.
- Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)
- When undocumented immigrants buy things, they are paying gross receipts taxes just like everyone else.
- Undocumented immigrants rent or own homes (paying property taxes) in New Mexico.
- At least half of undocumented immigrant households currently file income tax returns using Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs), and many who do not file income tax returns still have taxes deducted from their paychecks. Source: Undocumented Immigrants State and Local Tax Contribution
- In 2023, undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $26.2 billion into the Social Security Trust Fund, part of a total $89.8 billion they paid in combined federal, state, and local taxes. Source: Congressional Budget Office
- Federal law prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving most tax-payer funded government services, including Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Social Security, childcare subsidies, housing assistance, etc. Source New Mexico New Mexico Fiscal Policy Project, (NMFFP) “ and Vox, “Undocumented Immigrants Pay Millions of Dollars in State Taxes — Even in the Reddest States.”
- There’s no advantage to undocumented immigrants skirting the law and receiving government services. That would jeopardize their ability to become citizens. Source: NMFPP
Taxes paid by undocumented immigrants are greater than the cost to educate their children.
- Undocumented immigrants do receive one taxpayer-funded benefit: primary and secondary public education for their children. In New Mexico, unauthorized immigrants pay between $1.2 million and $1.8 million more in state taxes than undocumented immigrant children cost in state educational expenditures.”. Source: NMFPP and CBO.
- And when the children of undocumented immigrants grow up, they repay the costs of their education through a lifetime of taxes.
- Immigrants contribute to innovation and business creation, with immigrants starting new businesses at higher rates than U.S.-born individuals. Sources: The Hamilton Project, Immigrants and the New Mexico Economy: Working Hard for Low Wages, https://www.nmvoices.org/fpp_attachments/immigrants_and_economy_full_rpt_6-08.pdf
COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM:
Granting legal status to NM undocumented immigrants and allowing them to work here legally would boost their state and providing work authorization for undocumented immigrants would boost New Mexico's annual state and local tax contributions by $20.3 million, from $153.8 million to $174.1 million. These funds would come from increased personal income, sales, and property taxes, as legal status is linked to higher wages and the ability to pay into the tax system more fully. . Source: ITEP
THE BORDER:
We must and we will protect our border. Smart technology can do it better – and cheaper – than a wall.
Learn more: The “smarter” wall: How drones, sensors, and AI are patrolling the border
"In this 21st century, we have challenges, and I think we can use 21st-century solutions instead of a 14th-century solution called the wall,” said [Henry Cuellar (D-TX)] in an interview with the technology news site Recode. “Even if you put in a fence, ‘bad guys’ can use drones to carry drugs over that fence. So we have to be more flexible, more agile.”
Politicians who control the purse for security spending find a smart wall’s cost-effectiveness is appealing over extending a physical wall that could cost millions of dollars per mile. Source: Brookings Institution
- Trump’s wall is a boondoggle and a serious drag on taxpayers. See more.