Immigrants from Mexico have recently, for the first time since 1990, represented
less than half of the undocumented population. According to Pew, in 2017, about
4.95 million of the 10.5 million undocumented population were from Mexico, 1.9 million from Central America, and 1.45 million from Asia. About two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have been in the U.S. for 10 years or longer. In 2017, just
20% of undocumented, adult immigrants had lived in the U.S. for 5 years or less.
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Another controversy is over how much illegal immigrants cost the system.
An often overlooked fact is that illegal immigrants are taxpayers. The anti-immigrant lobby tends to ignore the money the immigrants often pay in payroll and sales taxes while counting the money spent on educating children born in the United States to immigrants. Numbers vary widely depending on the source, but undocumented immigrants are
not eligible for most federal benefit programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In evaluating the cost of illegal immigration, the voter has to make sure that the argument takes in both benefits consumed
and taxes paid.
www.brookings.edu