Washington, DC – Below is a column by Maribel Hastings from America’s Voice en Español translated to English from Spanish. It ran in several Spanish-language media outlets earlier this week:
This week is tax filing season in the United States, and just like last year, many undocumented immigrants are likely to choose not to file their taxes for fear of being identified and deported by the Trump administration—all to the detriment of government coffers.
There is a court injunction blocking the agreement between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and ICE to share data on taxpayers who use the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), which the IRS issues to certain categories of non-citizens who cannot obtain a Social Security number. But the fear among immigrants—both undocumented and authorized—persists, especially in the midst of the anti-immigrant climate in the country.
It is yet to be seen whether that fear had any effect on tax filing by undocumented individuals this year.
Last year, when the agreement was announced, The Washington Post reported a nationwide decline in tax filings, both by undocumented immigrants and authorized residents living in mixed-immigration-status households.
“Our clients want to pay taxes and want to do good. But what happens if immigration (authorities) come because they filed their taxes and they got deported?,” Diana Avellaneda, co-owner of DAPA tax firm in Maryland, told the newspaper at the time.
As of April 15, 2025, DAPA had processed 488 tax returns or extensions, compared to 968 during the same period in 2024, according to Avellaneda.
The agreement between the IRS and ICE will remain on hold until an appeals court issues a ruling.
Immigrants, both undocumented and authorized, pay substantial taxes that support essential social programs.
It’s worth reviewing the figures.
According to the American Immigration Council (AIC), in 2023, households headed by undocumented immigrants paid a total of $89.8 billion in federal, state, and local taxes. For comparison, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) reported that in 2022, these same households paid nearly $100 billion in combined federal, state, and local taxes.
Also in 2022, ITEP reported that “undocumented immigrants paid $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes, $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes, and $1.8 billion in unemployment insurance taxes.” These are programs from which, due to their immigration status, they are not eligible to receive benefits.
Furthermore, these amounts are part of the $651.9 billion in total taxes paid by all immigrants—both documented and undocumented—in 2023: $419.8 billion in federal taxes and $232.1 billion in state and local taxes, according to the AIC.
But for Trump, who prides himself on being a master negotiator, his prejudice against immigrants of color outweighs the economic benefits they represent through their work in vital industries, their tax contributions, their purchasing power as consumers, and their entrepreneurship.
Meeting daily quotas for detainees and deportees takes precedence over adding much-needed dollars to government revenues that translate into services, infrastructure, and social programs that benefit us all.
According to the ITEP, “every 10-percentage point drop in the income tax compliance rate of undocumented immigrants would lower federal tax revenue by $8.6 billion per year, and state and local tax collections by $900 million per year.”
A 30-percentage-point drop in the tax compliance rate would reduce federal government revenue by $25.9 billion annually and state and local government revenue by $2.6 billion.
Mass deportations of undocumented immigrants result in the loss of vital labor, entrepreneurs who start businesses, consumers, and taxpayers who keep important social programs afloat—not to mention the humanitarian toll of family separation, including the 4 million families with mixed immigration status and the 5.1 million U.S. citizen children living in them.
Legalizing the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants and granting them work permits would generate between $40 billion and $137 billion in additional annual revenue for the treasury. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, “this is because a less exploitable workforce would be paid higher wages (thus pay more taxes) and tax compliance by both employers and employees would increase.”
These are the consequences of undervaluing undocumented immigrants’ tax contributions.
The original Spanish version is here.
