Name: Illegal immigration a benefit to Texas economy, new study finds
Brand: houstonchronicle.com
SKU: houstonchronicle-com-87
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Illegal immigration a benefit to Texas economy, new study finds

preview

WASHINGTON — The state of Texas made more than $420 million off immigrants living in the state illegally in 2018, according to a new Rice University study.The study, which replicates an outdated state comptroller report, finds that for every $1 the Texas state government spends on the estimated 1.6 million people living in the state illegally, it brings in $1.21 in tax revenue.TEXAS TAKE:While the study found the state economy benefiting from immigrants living in Texas without legal authorization, it did not address one of the greatest costs: Roughly $1 billion in uncompensated health care expenses and law enforcement expenses covered by local governments and not reimbursed by the state.The study fits into a growing body of research on the boon that immigration can be for the economy, including a recent that found immigrants in Houston are responsible for more than 26 percent of the area’s gross domestic product and have accounted for a third of the region’s population growth over the past decade.“Immigration reform in the United States appears nearly impossible today, as it has been for twenty years. The probabilities of it happening may, however, increase if we deal first and separately with the undocumented population through an understanding of what they contribute to the U.S. economy,” the study, by José Iván Rodríguez-Sánchez, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Baker Institute, says. “The Texas case demonstrates that they add more than they take from the economy.”More for youThe study comes as the Trump administration has restricted even legal immigration amid the coronavirus outbreak, arguing in part that it will put a chill on economic recovery, and as Republicans have characterized unauthorized immigrants as a drain on the economy.Whether or not those living in the country illegally should be included in federal efforts to combat the outbreak and its effects on the economy have become a central sticking point as Congress works on its next relief bill. Democrats are pushing to send stimulus checks to those in the country illegally as Republicans call the idea “outrageous.”LEFT OUT:The Rice study is modeled on a Texas State Comptroller from 2006, which had similar findings: Immigrants in Texas without legal authorization generated $424.7 million more than they cost the state. The study calculated state costs for education and health care services, as well as incarcerations. It measures benefits through state revenues and school property taxes. Local governments, however, shouldered $929 million in uncompensated health care costs and local law enforcement costs not paid for by the state, the 2006 report found.The Rice study — which looked at state figures, not local costs — updated it using figures from 2018, estimating that roughly 6 percent of the total state population that year was in the U.S. without legal authorization. With roughly 65 percent of those residents working in the labor force and less than 6 percent unemployed, the study estimated they accounted for more than 8 percent of the state’s workforce.In 2018, those residents paid some $2.4 billion in state sales taxes, property taxes and consumer taxes on gasoline, vehicle inspections and more, the study estimated. It estimated they cost the state just more than $2 billion in education, health care and prison costs.The study did not examine local costs because they are less centralized and harder to compile than state figures. said while his report notes the local cost estimate from the 2006 comptroller study, he believes there are also benefits for local governments, as well. He said he hopes to examine the local aspects in future studies.ben.wermund@chron.com

WASHINGTON — The state of Texas made more than $420 million off immigrants living in the state illegally in 2018, according to a new Rice University study.The study, which replicates an outdated state comptroller report, finds that for every $1 the Texas state government spends on the estimated 1.6 million people living in the state illegally, it brings in $1.21 in tax revenue.TEXAS TAKE:While the study found the state economy benefiting from immigrants living in Texas without legal authorization, it did not address one of the greatest costs: Roughly $1 billion in uncompensated health care...

Illegal immigration a benefit to Texas economy, new study finds

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS