section_path: Economic impact
section_name: Economic impact
paragraph_text: Economic impact
  
  Illegal immigrants increase the size of the US economy and contribute to economic growth. Illegal immigrants contribute to lower prices of US-produced goods and services, which benefits consumers.
  
  Economists estimate that legalization of the current unauthorized immigrant population would increase the immigrants' earnings and consumption considerably. A 2016 National Bureau of Economic Research paper found that "legalization would increase the economic contribution of the unauthorized population by about 20%, to 3.6% of private-sector GDP." Legalization is also likely to reduce untaxed labor in the informal economy. A 2016 study found that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which allows unauthorized immigrants who migrated to the United States as minors to temporarily stay, increases labor force participation, decreases the unemployment rate and increases the income for DACA-eligible immigrants. The study estimated that DACA moved 50,000 to 75,000 unauthorized immigrants into employment. Another 2016 study found that DACA-eligible households were 38% less likely than non-eligible unauthorized immigrant households to live in poverty.
  
  A 2017 study in the Journal of Public Economics found that more intense immigration enforcement increased the likelihood that US-born children with illegal immigrant parents would live in poverty.