Marketplace: “Undocumented immigrants quietly pay billions into Social Security and receive no benefits.”

Undocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars per year to Social Security funds, reports the New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy immigration organization. If all undocumented immigrants were removed from the US, there would a tremendous negative impact, both short and long term, on Social Security, explains Monique Morrissey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. Undocumented immigrants’ contributions to Social Security are especially beneficial since undocumented individuals are not able to later receive benefits. Though Morrissey argues that these contributions are “not good” given that they are made by some of the most vulnerable people in society who are not themselves able to benefit, Abigail Zapote, the executive director of the D.C.-based nonprofit Latinos for Secure Retirement, notes: “The government, the IRS, will never say no to your tax dollars.”

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