By Bryan Navarro

MEDFORD, Ore. -- More than a hundred thousand undocumented workers paid taxes worth as much as $300 million in Oregon - that's according to a new report.

Officials from the Oregon Center For Public Policy say they want to do away with the myth that illegal workers don't contribute. Those officials say they do, by paying taxes with the hopes of laying groundwork for citizenship down the road.

Dragoberto Morales manages the non-profit Unete, which means, "Join Us". He looks at the report called "Undocumented Workers Are Taxpayers, Too", but he knows it well enough from some of the people he works with.

"They pay taxes. They pay social security and they work the same like everybody else. Making a living," Morales says.

The report says in the state, there are anywhere from 110,000 to 220,000 undocumented workers. They pay local and state income taxes, property taxes, Social Security, and Medicare taxes, adding up to hundreds of millions of dollars in 2010.

Since researchers don't know exactly how many workers there are, they don't know how much they're contributing. Illegal immigrants pay taxes by getting an "individual tax identification number" from the IRS, which does not require a social security number. Undocumented workers believe it could help in the process of becoming a citizen.

At Unete, Morales helps thousands of Latinos get into higher education or learn about local politics, but he says he doesn't ask who's legal and who's illegal...and he doesn't care to know.

"As long as they behave and be nice I think they're Okay," he says, "Illegal or legal. They are humans. That is all I care - they are human."

In addition to direct taxes, the employers pay at least $120 million in Oregon. See the full report here.