Undocumented Immigrants in California

 
Leslie Berestein Rojas reports on a new report in which taxpayer records were used to estimate California’s undocumented immigrant population by county and finds them interesting on a couple of counts.

First, the report from the Public Policy Institute of California estimates that Los Angeles County is home to a little under one million undocumented immigrants, 9.3 percent of its population.  No real surprises there.  But recall that this means that roughly 10+-plus (if one counts lawful permanent residents) cannot vote and this cannot fully participate in the political process.   Over time, we no doubt will see stresses and strains as local government almost inevitably will be less responsive than it should be to the undocumented population.  Do not forget the Revolutionary War slogan “No taxation without representation.”

Second, the Public Policy of California report provides a sense of how many undocumented immigrants file income tax returns.  Many people fail to acknowledge that millions of undocumented immigrants file tax returns, pay taxes, and contribite to the social security system to the tune of billions of dollars.  Undocumented immigrants at the same time are ineligible for many tax benefits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, many public benefts funded with tax dollars, and Social Security benefits (at least if they are working on a false SSN).

Undocumented immigrants make up about 28 percent of all foreign-born U.S. residents and slightly less than 4 percent of the nation’s total population. The vast majority of immigrants in California are legal residents.  But California is the state with the most undocumented immigrants.

Los Angeles leads California counties in terms of sheer numbers. However, undocumented immigrants form a higher percentage of the population in rural areas like Imperial, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Clara counties. The report also features maps with undocumented population estimates by ZIP code of the entire state and of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas.

KJ