Immigration and Crime: An Imaginative Match in the Minds of Americans
The “Criminal Immigrant” is a common argument; it allows the debater to contest immigration reform, while dissociating himself from the immorality of any such position by targeting the fictional immigrant he has created, instead of confronting the problematic reality of his own rationale. However, such a connection between immigration and crime exists nowhere but the alternate reality many Americans have constructed in their head.
The argument is not based in any sort of empirical evidence, but can often be attributed to the false, harmful rhetoric peddled by many right-wing politicians and news outlets.
Donald Trump, who 53% of republicans view as the “true president”, frequently used the image of a “criminal immigrant” to garner support for his extreme immigration policies, including building a wall along the southern border and instituting an immigration ban on predominantly Muslim countries. One of Trump’s most damning quotes regarding immigration was:
“They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
Though one could argue that this was an isolated view, there was no cohesive movement by the Republican Party to push back on rhetoric like this. Recently, Texas Governor Greg Abbot blamed Texas’s COVID outbreak on immigrants, despite Texas being one of the most lenient states regarding mask mandates and other health protocols.
Only when it comes to undocumented immigrants, does Abbot seem to be concerned with COVID.
Finally, popular news outlets among the right, such as Fox News and Newsmax, put out articles daily that serve to disparage and criminalize undocumented immigrants. A simple google search titled “Fox News immigration” will bring a plethora of articles – all of them attacking “criminal” and “illegal” immigrants for fleeing their native countries.
Because of this rhetoric, it is not difficult to see why 42% of Americans think that undocumented immigrants “worsen the crime situation”.
However, many peer-reviewed studies disagree with the notion that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes than native born U.S. citizens. A recent study performed suggests that out of U.S. born citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants, undocumented immigrants tend to commit the least crime of all groups.
Of major crime categories – violent, drug, and property – U.S. born citizens are anywhere in between 2-4x more likely to commit these crimes than either legal or illegal immigrants.
One could argue that these results are simply a recent trend, as this study was limited to Texas from 2012-2018. However, when looking at the overall crime and immigration data going back to the 1900s, one can see this is a persistent trend.
Beginning in 1970, the immigrant population in the U.S. has exploded, going from 9.6 million to nearly 45 million; an increase to nearly a 15% share of the total U.S. population. When residents of immigrant origin are factored in, that number spikes to 86 million, or 26% of the population. But despite this massive surge of immigrants and refugees, crime statistics do not follow suit.
In fact, as immigration has increased, crime has decreased.
Since the late 1900s, violent crime has decreased by up to 74%, and property crime decreased by 71%.
The myth of the “criminal immigrant” has been made far too mainstream than it should be. As Americans, it is our duty to educate ourselves about such topics, especially as immigration numbers are projected to continue rising. Such misinformation should receive no platform in the marketplace of ideas.
