According to recent estimates from the Partnership for a New American Economy, Louisiana is home to around 64,500 undocumented immigrants who collectively made over $1 billion and paid $136 million in taxes in 2014.
Estimates were released on Wednesday, August 4 as part of a larger report analyzing the contributions of immigrants to the Louisiana economy. This report is groundbreaking because it is one of the first to try to quantify the effects of the undocumented workforce on individual states.
D. Walt Leger III of New Orleans led a discussion with local business and civic leaders on Wednesday to discuss the findings.
Leger and the other speakers all agreed that illegal immigration is a major issue. This, according to Leger, creates a “shadow economy” where workers are more likely to be mistreated because they fear retaliation from law enforcement.
According to the study, the percentage of illegal residents in Louisiana is less than 1%. Leger advocated for policies on the state and federal levels that would help legal permanent residents stay in the country.
The police force needs to be adapted to the current situation, Leger said. My sense is that now is the right time for it.
Explain the methodology behind the Partnership for a New American Economy’s prediction. Members of the group examined information from the 2014 American Community Survey collected by the United States Census Bureau pertaining to people who were born outside of the United States.
If an immigrant or their spouse fit into any of the following categories, they were granted legal status:
Entering the U.S. prior to 1980
Persons of foreign birth who did not meet the aforementioned requirements were considered to be in the undocumented population.
The report’s main conclusions are presented below.
The vast majority of illegal immigrants are in the country illegally in order to find gainful employment.
According to the study, 86% of illegal immigrants living in Louisiana are between the ages of 25 and 64, making them eligible for the labor force. As opposed to the native-born population, which accounts for 51% of the total population.
A 2016 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research is cited in the report as providing evidence that the availability of jobs is a major draw for illegal immigrants. The paper found that 86.6% of undocumented males in the United States had jobs in 2012 and 2013.
Illegal immigrants are contributing to the tax system.
Although accurate statistics on the number of illegal immigrants who pay taxes are unavailable, federal officials estimated that as many as three-quarters of them do so in 2005. Half of all undocumented workers were assumed to be filing tax returns in the study.
A total of $42.7 million in state and local taxes and $93.7 million in federal taxes were estimated to have been paid by undocumented workers in 2014. They also made contributions to Medicare and Social Security totaling $19.6 million and $79.2 million, respectively.
To what extent is an undocumented worker responsible for paying taxes? Numerous studies have revealed that undocumented individuals are filing tax returns using incorrect or fictitious Social Security numbers. Ineligible for or unable to gain access to safety net programs like Social Security, Medicaid, etc.
A large proportion of the population engages in manual or physically demanding occupations like agriculture, construction, and mining.
There are approximately 1,724 undocumented workers in Louisiana’s agricultural sector, or about 10% of the total workforce. The construction industry employed the largest share of undocumented workers (9.1 percent), followed by the food service industry (5.6 percent), and finally the administrative, support, and waste management sector (9.4 percent), which includes jobs like janitorial work and landscaping.
Businesses are being founded by undocumented immigrants.
The study suggests that there are around 6,378 businesspeople in Louisiana who are operating without proper documentation. That’s roughly twice the rate at which Americans start new businesses, putting the percentage at around 12%.
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana Director Mayra Pineda stated that undocumented immigrants in the area have established prosperous businesses without much assistance. She pointed out that the chamber and other groups can’t help illegal immigrants because they receive funding from the government.
The majority of the workforce is likely here illegally and has been for some time.
The report finds that 73% of undocumented workers have been in the country for five years or more, indicating that many have integrated to the point where mass deportation is unlikely. Half or more of the undocumented workforce can communicate in English adequately.
Andre Rogers has been a content and opinion writer for many popular online publications over the years. Andre is now our chief editor at Louisiana Informer. Andre specializes in current trends and technology.
