Covid-19 Relief for Undocumented Would Boost the Economy for All

Among the many policy failures of our national Covid-19 response, the exclusion of 18.1 million people, including 4.9 million U.S. citizens, from federal stimulus packages will go down as one of the most economically devastating self-inflicted wounds.

These are neighbors who shop at local stores, pay rent and fuel the economy through their workforce participation to the tune of a $1.6 trillion contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product. According to research conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles, leaving undocumented immigrants out of the $1,200 tax rebate approved by Congress in March resulted in a $10 billion loss in economic activity — which is almost $3.4 billion more than what it would have cost to include them. (One of us, Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, is a co-author of the study.)