Immigration Executive Action Impact on the States: Nevada

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 Nevada, 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 Nevada 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 Nevada.

Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DAPA in Nevada range from 49,000, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), to 63,800, according to the Center for Migration Studies (CMS).
Estimates of the population eligible to participate in DACA in Nevada range from 18,000, according to MPI, to 24,800, according to CMS.
Estimates of Nevada’s total unauthorized population range from 145,000 in 2012, according to MPI, 161,000 in 2013, according to CMS, and 210,000 in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center.
In 2013, there were a total of 529,164 foreign-born persons in Nevada, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Executive action could help grow Nevada’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 Nevada’s current share of the U.S. economy, CEA’s estimate implies that the actions will increase Nevada’s GDP by $700 million to $1.7 billion over the next 10 years.
Providing work authorization to even a portion of Nevada’s undocumented immigrants, such as those potentially eligible for DACA and DAPA, would increase Nevada’s tax revenues by $21 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 Nevada.

Nevada has a growing immigrant population, many of whom are Latino or Asian. The foreign-born share of Nevada’s population rose from 8.7% in 1990, to 15.8% in 2000, to 19.0% in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2013, 54.9% of Nevada’s foreign-born population was of Latino origin and 26.4% 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 Nevada children with immigrant parents were U.S. citizens, according to data from the Urban Institute. In 2009, 90.6% of children in Asian families in Nevada were U.S. citizens, as were 90.2% of children in Latino families.
The purchasing power of Latinos and Asians in Nevada has grown substantially over the past 25 years. The 2012 purchasing power of Nevada’s Latinos totaled $16.3 billion—an increase of 1,126% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $9.4 billion—an increase of 1,606% 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. Nevada’s 18,035 Latino-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $3.2 billion and employed 21,922 people in 2007, the last year for which data is available. The state’s 17,542 Asian-owned businesses had sales and receipts of $3.8 billion and employed 23,862 people in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners. In 2010, 20.2% of all business owners in Nevada were foreign-born, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute.
Unauthorized immigrants are paying millions of dollars in state and local taxes. Unauthorized immigrants in Nevada paid $123.8 million in state and local taxes in 2010, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, which includes $15.9 million in property taxes and $108 million in sales taxes. Were unauthorized immigrants in Nevada to have legal status, they would pay $130 million in state and local taxes, including $16.5 million in property taxes and $113.5 million in sales taxes.
Deporting all unauthorized immigrants would adversely affect Nevada’s economy. If all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Nevada, the state would lose $9.7 billion in economic activity, $4.3 billion in gross state product, and approximately 45,533 jobs, even accounting for adequate market adjustment time, according to a report by the Perryman Group.