Analysis | the Truth About Illegal Immigration and Crime

But here’s the rub: There is little evidence that immigrants — or even undocumented immigrants — cause more crime. Still, there is enough ambiguity in the data — or so little hard data — that it’s difficult to point to conclusive findings that would change opinions. (View Highlight) #✂️ #👻 ai highlighted

Graham Ousey, a criminologist at the College of William & Mary, and Charis Kubrin, a criminologist at the University of California at Irvine, surveyed more than two decades of research on immigration and crime for their 2023 book, “Immigration and Crime: Taking Stock.” The results varied depending on survey design and scope, but generally they found “that long-standing concerns about immigration as a major source of crime are unfounded.” In fact, communities with more immigration tend to have less crime, especially violent crimes like homicide. They also found that immigrants are less involved in crime as both offenders and victims compared to the native-born, including the children of immigrants. (View Highlight) #✂️ #👻 ai highlighted

Their findings came under attack from the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports stricter immigration limits and a merit-based immigration system. CIS says that because the investigation into an inmate’s immigration status is ongoing, the data is not static and the number of undocumented immigrants rises over time. “Given sufficient time for data collection, it appears that illegal immigrants have above average conviction rates for homicide and sexual assault, while they have lower rates for robbery and drugs,” CIS said in 2022. (View Highlight) #✂️ #👻 ai highlighted