Illegal Immigration Figures in Nebraska

Illegal immigration in Nebraska accounts for about 2.8 percent of the state’s population with about 55,000 unauthorized immigrants in 2012, according to the Pew Research Center. There were about 40,000 workers with illegal status or about 3.7 percent of the state’s workforce.

Those figures are slightly up from 2010 when there were some 45,000 illegal immigrants in Nebraska or about 2.4 percent of the state’s population. They made up 3 percent of the labor force with about 30,000 workers, according to Pew research.

The American Immigration Council cited a Perryman Group report estimating that the state would lose $852.4 million in economic activity if unauthorized immigrants were no longer in Nebraska. There would be a loss of 5,400 jobs.

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Undocumented immigrants in Nebraska paid some $44.4 million in state and local taxes in 2012, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. That included $24.6 million in sales taxes, $15.4 million in property taxes, and $4.4 million in personal income taxes.

The institute concludes that legal status for current unauthorized immigrants would increase their contribution in state and local taxes to $52.4 million, some $8 million more through sales, property, and personal income taxes.

Immigrants overall comprised 8 percent of Nebraska’s population, or about 81,212 employees in 2013, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

Overall foreign-born figures increased in the state from 1.8 percent of the population in 1990 to 6.6 percent of the population in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Some 41,774 people, or 33.9 percent of the immigrants in Nebraska, were naturalized U.S. citizens in 2013.

The immigrant, Latino and Asian population added billions of dollars to the state’s economy. Latino purchasing power totaled $3.9 billion in 2014, a 1,052-percent increase since 1990, according to a University of Georgia study. Asian purchasing power totaled $1.4 billion, an increase of 937 percent since 1990.

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There was a 67.6-percent increase from 2000 to 2011 in the number of immigrants in Nebraska who received a college degree, data from the Migration Policy Institute reveals.

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