Editor’s note: A version of this story published for the first time in 2019.
CNN
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It is a surprising fact that is overlooked in the immigration debate.
Undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in federal taxes annually, between the tax declarations submitted and the taxes deducted from the payment checks, experts estimate.
Here is a look why, and how, this is happening.
The National Immigration Center breaks down several reasons why the documented immigrants of und paid taxes, include:
• It shows that they are complying with federal tax laws.
• It can help them demonstrate “good moral character” if they then have the opportunity to legalize their immigration status.
• The records of the tax declaration could be used to document the history of work and the presence in the US.
Critics of illegal immigration have long argued that undocumented immigrants who pay taxes can do so because they are used using social security numbers. But millions of dollars of federal taxes are paid every year by people who do not have social security numbers at all.
Instead, they are presented using what is known as an individual taxpayers identification number (ITIN).
The Bipartisan Policy Center, a group of Washington -based experts, points out that “most experts believe that the vast majority of tax statements presented in ITIN today are presented by undocumented immigrants.”
Some non -citizens who legally legalize the United States also pay taxes using this method.
In 2019, according to the IRS, more than 2.5 million tax declarations were filed using ITI, representing almost $ 6 billion in taxes.
In addition to tax declarations presentations, officials estimate that undocumented immigrants who also contribute to billions to social security annually through payroll tax conductions. In 2010, for example, Social Security administration estimated that payments of unauthorized workers represented around $ 12 billion in tax revenues for Social Security.
In recent years, the publications of the defenders of the rights of immigrants on Facebook, Twitter and the Tiktok tax season have drawn attention to the problem.
“Undocumented immigrants pay billions in taxes to finance programs that cannot access,” the National Immigration Law Center wrote in a series of recent social media publications.
In 2017, Belén Sisas post about his experience in paying taxes went viral.
“I want to tell me again how it should be deported, not contribute anything and just protest this country, while the richest people in this country steal 1% of this country every day?” Sisa wrote, who was a university student in Arizona at that time.
The beneficiary of the Deferred Action Program for Children’s Arrivators told CNN that he felt it was important to speak.
“I wanted to show the people we are here, and that we come from all over the world, and that we contribute more than people think we,” he said.
José Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer prize -win On Twitter.
“Yes,” he wrote, “undocumented immigrants are helping to finance the same systems that stop and deport us.”