The Impact of Unauthorized Immigrants on the Budgets of State and Local Governments
Report
This paper focuses on the estimated costs that certain state and local governments incur for providing various services to unauthorized immigrants. It also looks at the estimated taxes those individuals pay and at certain types of federal assistance that are available to states to help provide such services.
According to available estimates, there are about 12 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States. Federal, state, and local governments spend public funds that benefit those immigrants, and those immigrants pay individual income, sales, and property taxes. Most available studies conclude that the unauthorized population pays less in state and local taxes than it costs state and local governments to provide services to that population. However, those estimates have significant limitations; they are not a suitable basis for developing an aggregate national effect across all states.
This paper, requested by the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, is one of several reports prepared by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that present facts and research on immigration. The paper focuses on the estimated costs that certain state and local governments incur for providing various services—especially those related to education, health care, and law enforcement—to unauthorized immigrants. It also looks at the estimated taxes those individuals pay and at certain types of federal assistance that are available to states to help provide such services. In keeping with CBO’s mandate to provide objective, nonpartisan analysis, the paper makes no recommendations.
