This April 15th was the deadline to file taxes and immigrants, despite being persecuted by the current administration, were no exception.
The press, however, reported that the fear of being located and detained or deported made many choose not to file their taxes. Last year it was announced that the IRS was going to exchange information with ICE on taxpayers who use the ITIN number issued by the IRS to some categories of non-citizens who cannot obtain a Social Security number.
That agreement was blocked in court, but The fear of immigrants, with and without documents, persists.
The Unusual York Events interviewed couple Evelin and Gustavo Quebedo, from Los Angeles, both undocumented, who for more than ten years have paid their taxes thinking that fulfilling their responsibility will help them demonstrate that They are not a burden on the government in case a reform is approved that legalizes them.
Although this year they thought about not filing their taxes for fear of ICE, in the end they did.
But Maria Garciaan undocumented woman who has a stand selling clothing and cosmetics in downtown Los Angeles, did not do so for fear of being located.
“In all the years I have been in this country, I have never experienced what is happening now… My whole life is here. My old mother is here. My two children are here. I don’t want to be separated from them,” García, who has been living in the United States for 30 years, told the newspaper.
If people don’t file their taxes, billions of dollars are lost from the coffers of federal, state and local governments.
La Opinión reported that “immigrants in the United States are not only an essential part of the workforce, but also They contribute more to the tax system than the average citizen”.
“In 2023 alone, immigrants paid about $1.3 trillion in taxes, while they received $761 billion in government benefits, leaving a fiscal surplus exceeding half a trillion dollars”, the newspaper wrote, citing a report from the Cato Institute.
The conclusion is clear: immigrants, undocumented and authorized, They benefit the economy of the country and the states and cities where they live with their laborpaying taxes, consuming products and services, and opening businesses.
Lower House advances project to extend TPS for Haitians until 2029
In fact, his financial contributions were cited by some of the 10 Republican congressmen who voted with the Democrats to approve a bill in the Lower House that seeks restore TPS for Haitiansone of several groups affected by the revocation of that and other programs that allow them to be in the country legally with work permits and protection from deportation.
La Opinión reported that “Congressman Don Bacon (Republican of Nebraska) indicated that withdrawing this benefit “it would deprive 350 thousand workers of their work capacity.” at a time of labor shortage.” “I don’t see the point in deporting people who are here legally, who work and who contribute to our country,” he added.
“In the same vein, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) highlighted that hospitals and nursing homes could lose the deepest key.” “It is about people who work, pay taxes and cover needs criticisms in the health system,” indicated the congresswoman.
Aside from its mass deportation agenda, the Trump administration has revoked, eliminated or reduced programs that allow immigrants to simply stay in the United States as part of its strategy to also reduce authorized immigration.
In addition to the elimination of visas for nationals of dozens of countries, Trump has gone after programs like TPS which allows nationals of countries affected by war or natural disasters to remain in the United States with a work permit and protection from deportation.
Some 350,000 Haitians are affected by the revocation of TPS as well as 348,000 Venezuelans. Another 72,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans who had protection from deportation and work permits since 1999 also lost TPS. Also canceled humanitarian parole for half a million Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans.
It is a type of doctrine that seeks to delegalize immigrants to make them targets for deportation.
Trump has reduced immigration more simply than unauthorized immigration
La Opinion reported that in Trump’s second term “the most drastic reduction has not occurred in irregular crossings, but in immigration simply”. “Information taken from analyzes published by the Cato Institute suggests that cuts in legal entries could be up to 2.5 times greater than the decrease in irregular immigration. In absolute terms, it is estimated that about 72% of the total drop in immigration corresponds to legal channels.”
“One of the most significant changes was the elimination of the CBP One application, which allowed asylum seekers to schedule appointments at ports of entry. As a result, the entry of asylum seekers plummeted by 99.9%, from almost 40,000 in December 2024 to just a few dozen in February 2025,” he added.
The visas of nationals from dozens of countries, student visas and highly specialized workers, and the diversity visa lottery, among others, have also been affected.
But Trump also makes official his goal of deporting 1 million undocumented immigrants annually
The Washington Events reported that “although it had been rumored and denied for some time, ICE has now made it official: the goal is to reach one million deportations per year. The agency quietly included that figure in its budget statement before Congress several weeks ago. It told lawmakers that it has the “capacity” and “commitment” necessary to deport more undocumented immigrants.”
Acting director of ICE resigns
The media reported the resignation of Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, who led the violent strategy of indiscriminate detentions and deportations that resulted in the deaths of two US citizens in Minnesota, and a rise in deaths in detention centers, as well as violations of rights even of US citizens. Lyons, however, only regretted the increase in threats and physical attacks against ICE agents.
Quote of the week: “It is sending the message to undocumented migrants and mixed-status families that being in the shadows is safer,” Louis DeSipio, a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine, told The Unusual York Events, referring to the exchange of information between the IRS and ICE that, although blocked in the courts, has caused many immigrants, for fear of being located and deported, to choose not to file their taxes to the detriment of government coffers.
Keep reading:
- ICE pays millions for warehouses used for immigration detention and big banks benefit
- Liam Conejo, the child used as “bait” by ICE, lives in fear and may be deported / La Opinion
- Trump’s immigration policy would leave immigrant doctors without jobs
