Immigration Executive Action Impact on the States: Florida

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 Florida, 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 Florida 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 Florida.

Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DAPA in Florida range from 163,000, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), to 182,400, according to the Center for Migration Studies (CMS).
Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DACA in Florida range from 90,000, according to MPI, to 99,000, according to CMS.
Estimates of Florida’s total unauthorized population range from 632,000 in 2012, according to MPI, 703,000 in 2013, according to CMS, and 925,000 in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center.
In 2013, there were a total of 3,798,062 foreign-born persons in Florida, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Executive action will help grow Florida’s 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 Florida’s current share of the U.S. economy, CEA’s estimate implies that the actions will increase Florida’s GDP by $4.3 billion to $10.0 billion over the next 10 years.
Providing work authorization to even a portion of Florida’s undocumented immigrants, such as those potentially eligible for DACA and DAPA, would increase Florida’s tax revenues by $102 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 Florida.

Florida has a growing immigrant population, many of whom are Latino or Asian. The foreign-born share of Florida’s population rose from 12.9% in 1990, to 16.7% in 2000, to 19.4% in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2013, 57.1% of Florida’s foreign-born population was of Latino origin and 9.3% of the state’s foreign-born were Asian.
The vast majority of children with immigrant parents are U.S. citizens. In 2009, 86.1% of Florida children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens, according to data from the Urban Institute. In 2009, 89.1% of children in Asian families in Florida were U.S. citizens, as were 89.8% of children in Latino families.
The purchasing power of Latinos and Asians in Florida has grown substantially over the past 25 years. The 2014 purchasing power of Latinos in Florida totaled $127.2 billion—an increase of 544.2% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $23.1 billion—an increase of 882.5% 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. Florida’s 450,137 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $72.6 billion and employed 302,345 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 64,931 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $17.3 billion and employed 104,650 people in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. In 2010, more than 1 in 4 (26.1%) of all business owners in Florida were foreign-born, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.
Unauthorized immigrants are paying millions of dollars in state and local taxes. Unauthorized immigrants in Florida paid $706 million in state and local taxes in 2010, including $633.7 million in sales taxes and $72.6 million in property taxes, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Were unauthorized immigrants in Florida to have legal status, they would pay $747.4 million in state and local taxes, including $668.3 million in sales taxes and $79.1 million in property taxes.
Deporting all unauthorized immigrants would adversely affect Florida’s economy. If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Florida, the state would lose $43.9 billion in economic activity, $19.5 billion in gross state product, and approximately 262,436 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.