Why Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants Matters for U.S. Economic Recovery

Corporation grantee Center for American Progress outlines the case for citizenship for 10.4 million undocumented U.S. immigrants

By Carnegie Corporation of New York March 8, 2022

Immigration

There are 10.4 million undocumented immigrants working and living in the United States. Approximately 5 million of them are considered essential workers — serving as health care professionals and staff at hospitals, as agricultural and farm workers producing the country’s food, as delivery drivers and grocery store clerks, and in other industries that have helped keep the country afloat. Some of them are Dreamers, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, or Temporary Protected Status holders. Yet they were excluded from federal pandemic relief efforts and unable to receive stimulus checks and many do not have access to health care.

The Center for American Progress, a Corporation grantee, makes the case for the Biden administration and Congress to create a pathway to citizenship and permanent protections for undocumented immigrants as they continue to aid the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Undocumented immigrants and their households pay $79.7 billion in federal taxes and $41 billion in state and local taxes annually. Despite being ineligible for social safety net programs, undocumented workers continue to pay into them, to the tune of $21 billion each year.
It is estimated that creating a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants in the country would boost U.S. gross domestic product by $1.7 trillion and lead to 438,800 new jobs.
The Center for American Progress and the Global Migration Center at the University of California, Davis, project that in 10 years, legalization would enable undocumented workers to earn $14,000 more in annual wages while increasing the annual wages of all other workers by $700, on average.
Approximately 6.1 million U.S. children live with at least one undocumented family member. The threat of immigration enforcement negatively hurts the development of these children, and deportation of an undocumented parent causes economic, housing, and food instability.

The author, Trinh Q. Truong, writes that creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would help ensure a robust economic recovery for all Americans. Should congressional efforts fail, Truong urges the Biden administration to take immediate executive action to promote stability in the lives of undocumented immigrants, their families, and their communities.

Read the full article “Why Immigration Relief Matters.”

TOP: In December 2021, activists rallied outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for immigration provisions, including a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, to be included in the Build Back Better Act. (Credit: Drew Angerer via Getty Images)