Undocumented immigrants contribute substantially to the U.S. economy, paying nearly $100 billion a year in taxes. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants contributed $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, the most recent year studied—averaging $8,889 per person. In New Jersey, immigrant contributions totaled $1.3 billion in state and local taxes through sales taxes, property taxes embedded in rent, and income and payroll taxes withheld from paychecks.
More than a third of these tax dollars go directly into Social Security and Medicare—programs undocumented workers are legally barred from ever accessing. In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid $25.7 billion into Social Security alone. A Congressional Budget Office report projected that immigration between 2021 and 2024 would reduce the federal deficit by $900 billion over the following decade, as the $1.2 trillion in federal tax revenue generated exceeds the $177 billion in spending on programs like Medicaid and SNAP. After immigration enforcement reduced the “other foreign nationals” population by an estimated 360,000, the CBO revised its outlook: immigration actions will now increase the deficit by $500 billion, representing a $1.4 trillion swing.
Undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than U.S. citizens or documented immigrants. A peer-reviewed study using Texas Department of Public Safety data found native-born citizens were over twice as likely to be arrested for violent crimes, two-and-a-half times more likely for drug crimes, and more than four times more likely for property crimes compared with undocumented immigrants. Roughly 8.3 million undocumented workers make up about 5% of the U.S. labor force, representing up to half of all hired crop and field workers, a quarter of construction workers and one in 10 workers in food processing, landscaping and restaurants.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/2026/05/08/undocumented-immigrants-u-s-economy-opinion/89961523007/