Immigration Executive Action Impact on the States: Texas

The series of executive actions on immigration, which President Obama announced on November 20, 2014, promises to benefit the U.S. economy.  Most, though not all, of these economic gains would flow from the two deferred action initiatives:  Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), which will grant temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to some unauthorized parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; and expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which offers the same relief to qualified young adults who were brought to the United States as children. This fact sheet provides a snapshot of what executive action will mean for Texas, including the potential number of applicants for the deferred action initiatives, and the economic benefits DAPA and DACA will bring to the state. The fact sheet also provides background on the immigrant, Latino, and Asian population in Texas and their current contributions to the state’s economy.

Estimates of the population eligible to participate in executive action programs vary, but represent only a small portion of the total number of immigrants in Texas.  

• Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DAPA in Texas range from 560,000, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), to 684,400, according to the Center for Migration Studies (CMS).
• Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DACA in Texas range from 183,000, according to MPI, to 262,500, according to CMS.
• Estimates of Texas’ total unauthorized population range from 1,464,000 in 2012, according to MPI, 1,650,000 in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center, and 1,726,000 in 2013, according to CMS.
• In 2013, there were a total of  4,369,271 foreign-born persons in Texas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Executive action could help grow Texas’ economy by several billion dollars.

• The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) found that the executive action on immigration will grow the U.S. economy by $90 billion to $210 billion over the next 10 years. Given Texas’ current share of the U.S. economy, CEA’s estimate implies that the actions will increase Texas’ GDP by $8.2 billion to $19.2 billion over the next 10 years.
• Providing work authorization to even a portion of Texas’ undocumented immigrants, such as those potentially eligible for DACA and DAPA, would increase Texas’ tax revenues by $338 million, over five years, and lead to a cascade of benefits, according to the Center for American Progress. 

Executive action on immigration exists within a broader context in which immigrants, Latinos, and Asians contribute to Texas.

• Texas has a growing immigrant population, many of whom are Latino or Asian.  The foreign-born share of Texas’ population rose from 9.0% in 1990, to 13.9% in 2000, to 16.5% in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2013, 69.5% of Texas’ foreign-born population was of Latino origin and 17.4% of the state’s foreign-born were Asian.
• The vast majority of children with immigrant parents are U.S. citizens.  In 2009, 87.7% of Texas children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens, according to data from the Urban Institute. In 2009, 86.2% of children in Asian families in Texas were U.S. citizens, as were 93.2% of children in Latino families. 
• The purchasing power of Latinos and Asians in Texas has grown substantially over the past 25 years. The 2014 purchasing power of Latinos in Texas totaled $240.7 billion—an increase of 634% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $56.3 billion—an increase of 1,133% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.
• Latino- and Asian-owned businesses are contributing to the state’s economy, including by creating jobs. Texas’ 447,589 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $61.9 billion and employed 395,673 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 114,297 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $40.2 billion and employed 206,545 people in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. In 2010, 20.3% of all business owners in Texas were foreign-born, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.
• Unauthorized immigrants are paying over a billion dollars in state and local taxes. Unauthorized immigrants in Texas paid $1.6 billion in state and local taxes in 2010, including $1.4 billion in sales taxes and $204.4 million in property taxes, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Were unauthorized immigrants in Texas to have legal status, they would pay $1.7 billion in state and local taxes, including $1.5 billion in sales taxes and $219.6 million in property taxes.
• Deporting all unauthorized immigrants would adversely affect Texas’ economy.  If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Texas, the state would lose $69.3 billion in economic activity, $30.8 billion in gross state product, and approximately 403,174 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.