Douglas Amy: Undocumented immigrants' contributions

Fox News and the Republican Party have convinced many Americans that undocumented immigrants don’t contribute anything to our society and are just a drain on federal programs.

But guess how much in federal taxes undocumented immigrants contribute every year? $100 million? $500 million? When a group of Trump supporters were asked this, they were all sure the answer was zero dollars.

The real figure? According to a recent study by Americans for Tax Fairness, in 2022 these immigrants contribute $51.8 billion — yes, it’s billions — in federal taxes every year. Plus another $37.3 billion in state and local taxes.

This, in an era where billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Michael Bloomberg sometimes manage to pay nothing in income taxes. And in 40 of 50 states, these immigrants actually pay a higher effective state/local tax rate than the top 1% of households. So who are the real contributors to our society?

Douglas Amy

Northampton