Immigrants, especially immigrants without all their proper paperwork, get blamed for many ills of our nation.

But such scapegoating is not only dangerous to our shared humanity, it is often just plain untrue.

In fact, immigrants — especially and including undocumented ones — contribute in many ways to our society and in many ways keep it running smoothly.

It’s easy to scapegoat, but it’s difficult to look inward and ask questions like, where would our nation be without immigrants, even undocumented ones? (Tens of millions of immigrants are here “legally”, by the way.) What would our population – and our economy – look like without them? Would both be shrinking? What would industries like farming, meat packing, elderly care and so many others look like without immigrants in the U.S.? What would innovation be like? And how have we as a nation contributed to problems of the world over the decades that have in one way or another burdened people of other nations – such as by exacerbating climate change, selling weapons of war, benefiting from mining in poor countries, and meddling in the affairs of independent states all over Latin America, Asia and the Middle East during the Cold War and beyond?

The fact is, as we can see from recent studies, even immigrants in the U.S. who lack the proper paper work to be here “legally” contribute massively to even just our tax system.

The 11 million undocumented immigrants in U.S. paid $96.7 billion in total taxes to all levels of government in 2022, concluded researchers at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found in the report, “Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants.”

A good chunk of the taxes undocumented immigrants paid went to programs that these people will likely never be able to access, too, such as Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance. But these so-called “illegals” paid nearly $26 billion into Social Security alone in 2022, found the researchers at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

That money doesn’t even begin to tell the story of the economic contribution of these immigrants in the form of hard work in often dangerous, hot and tough jobs around the country that let everyone else live in comfort. Few if any of these people are “taking away” jobs that anyone else in the U.S. wants to do. Yet, many of these immigrants, including undocumented ones, are members of mixed-status families, communities, and the friends and loved ones of people who were born here.

Let’s recognize and celebrate what immigrants, including those here without proper paperwork, are really contributing to our society and our nation.