Immigrants and Crime: The Research Behind the Rhetoric
In the heated political climate surrounding immigration, former President Donald Trump has once again brought the issue of crime committed by immigrants to the forefront of his campaign. Trump, aiming to reclaim the presidency, has accused migrants in the U.S. illegally of escalating violent crime, a claim he also emphasized during his previous tenure.
Trump’s assertions have been met with a wave of research contradicting his stance. Academics and think tanks have delved into the relationship between immigration and criminality, consistently finding that immigrants are not more likely to engage in criminal behavior than their native-born counterparts. For instance, a study titled
Further reinforcing these findings, a meta-analysis of over fifty studies conducted between 1994 and 2014 echoed similar results. Another significant piece of research from the National Bureau of Economic Research, titled
Amidst the political back-and-forth, President Joe Biden and his administration have responded to the claims made by Trump and his supporters. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressed profound disagreement with efforts to demonize migrants based on individual actions. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has criticized the use of violent rhetoric as divisive.
Despite the political narrative pushed by some, the data remains clear. A study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that immigrants in the U.S. illegally had lower felony arrest rates than legal immigrants and native-born citizens in Texas. The libertarian Cato Institute has also published multiple reports indicating lower crime rates among immigrants.
While some groups, like the Center for Immigration Studies, have challenged these findings, their own research has not conclusively shown that immigrants commit crimes at higher rates than others. Even conservative economist John Lott’s study, which suggested higher conviction rates among immigrants in Arizona, has been critiqued for methodological issues.
As researchers continue to analyze data and trends, one point remains consistent: the overall body of research does not support the notion that immigrants are more prone to criminality than those born in the United States.
