Jha Washington: Undocumented Indian immigrants to the US, numbering over half a million, hold a collective spending power of USD15.5 billion and contribute USD2.8 billion to the federal, state and local tax revenue, says an American think-tank report. Using the latest available American Community Survey data from 2019 in its latest research, the new American Economy think-tank said undocumented Indian immigrants are the top third contributor to the US economy among other undocumented immigrants. There are 4.2 million immigrants from Mexico who lack documentation.

Together, they make up more than 40.8 percent of the 10.3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. In 2019 alone, they earned almost USD92 billion in household income and contributed almost USD9.8 billion in federal, state and local taxes.

Mexican undocumented immigrants held more than USD82.2 billion in spending power, money that often goes back into local economies as they spend on housing, consumer goods and services, the report said. In terms of the number of undocumented immigrants, Mexico is followed by El Salvador (621,000, or 6.0 percent of all undocumented immigrants), India (587,000, or 5.7 percent), Guatemala (5.4 percent, or 5.4 percent), and Honduras (416,000, or 4.0 percent).

With its USD15.5 billion of spending power, India, however, holds the second position, followed by El Salvador (USD11.5 billion), Guatemala (US9.1 billion) and Honduras (USD6.4 billion). They also make significant contributions to the federal, state and local tax revenue: India (USD2.8 billion), El Salvador (USD1.4 billion), Guatemala (USD1.1 billion) and Honduras (USD778 million), the report said.

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