Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes in one year — including $34 billion into Social Security, Medicare and unemployment programs they are legally barred from ever collecting from.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy ran the numbers for 2022: $96.7 billion, of which $59.4 billion went to the federal government and $37.3 billion to states and localities. That is about $8,889 per undocumented person per year. Sales tax at the register does not check status. Neither does the property tax built into rent, and payroll tax is withheld automatically from anyone working on the books.

The part that should end the argument: more than a third of that money funds programs they are barred from using. $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes, $6.4 billion in Medicare, $1.8 billion in unemployment insurance. The Social Security Administration's own Chief Actuary estimated the trust funds took in about $12 billion more from unauthorized workers than they paid out in a single year, and that roughly $100 billion flowed in over a decade — money that is quietly holding up a program those workers will never receive a check from.

In 40 states, undocumented immigrants pay a higher share of their income in state and local taxes than the top one percent of households in that same state.

And the contribution is being deliberately capped. ITEP estimates that simply granting work authorization to the people already here would raise their annual tax payments by $40.2 billion, to $136.9 billion. The revenue is being left on the table on purpose.