Immigration Executive Action Impact on the States: Indiana

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 Indiana, 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 Indiana 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 Indiana.

Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DAPA in Indiana range from 33,000, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), to 40,300, according to the Center for Migration Studies (CMS).
Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DACA in Indiana range from 11,000, according to MPI, to 11,800, according to CMS.
Estimates of Indiana’s total unauthorized population range from 85,000 in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center, to 98,000, according to MPI, and to 101,000 in 2013, according to CMS.
In 2013, there were a total of 314,501 foreign-born persons in Indiana, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Executive action will help grow Indiana’s economy by over a 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 Indiana’s current share of the U.S. economy, CEA’s estimate implies that the actions will increase Indiana’s GDP by $1.7 billion to $4 billion over the next 10 years.
Enabling even a portion of Indiana’s undocumented immigrants, such as those potentially eligible for DACA and DAPA, would increase Indiana’s tax revenues by $66 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 Indiana.

Indiana has a growing immigrant population, many of whom are Latino or Asian. The foreign-born share of Indiana’s population rose from 1.7% in 1990, to 3.1% in 2000, to 4.8% in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2013, 42.9% of Indiana’s foreign-born population was of Latino origin and 28.7% of the state’s foreign-born were Asian.
The vast majority of children with immigrant parents are U.S. citizens. In 2009, 86.8% of Indiana children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens, according to data from the Urban Institute. In 2009, 84% of children in Asian families in Indiana were U.S. citizens, as were 91.3% of children in Latino families.
The purchasing power of Latinos and Asians in Indiana has grown substantially over the past 25 years. The 2012 purchasing power of Latinos in Indiana totaled $8.5 billion—an increase of 717% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $5 billion—an increase of 621% 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. Indiana’s 8,558 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $1.7 billion and employed 14,304 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 8,756 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $3.4 billion and employed 24,730 people in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. In 2010, 5.2 percent of all business owners in Indiana were foreign-born.
Unauthorized immigrants are paying millions of dollars in state and local taxes. Unauthorized immigrants in Indiana paid $108.9 million in state and local taxes in 2010, including $74.4 million in sales taxes, $25.4 million in state income taxes, and $9 million in property taxes, according to data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Were unauthorized immigrants in Indiana to have legal status, they would pay $141.7 million in state and local taxes, including $78.8 million in sales taxes, $53.3 million in state income taxes, and $9.6 million in property taxes.
Deporting all unauthorized immigrants would adversely affect Indiana’s economy. If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Indiana, the state would lose $2.8 billion in economic activity, $1.3 billion in gross state product, and approximately 16,739 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.