The narrative that immigrants are criminals, mentally ill, and poisoning the “blood of our country” has been a recurrent theme in former President Trump’s reelection campaign. This rhetoric was so rampant that it also appeared during the Republican National Convention (RNC), where Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) insinuated that “the country is less safe” as a result of immigrants. The second day of the RNC, titled “Make America Safe Once Again,” even centered on immigration and crime.
Academic and empirical research shows that this could not be further from the truth.
Using immigrants as a focal point for crime in the U.S. is not only dangerous, but also misleading. In fact, various studies show that documented and undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born individuals.
What the Data Shows
A recent study found that since the 1960s, immigrants have been 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born individuals. Similarly, a CATO Institute study found that undocumented immigrants were 37 percent less likely to be convicted of a crime. Additionally, a Texas study found that undocumented immigrants were 47 percent less likely to be convicted of a crime than U.S.-born individuals.
Individual-level studies show that U.S.-born children of immigrants have higher offending rates than their parents. This is also true for assimilated immigrants, who “report higher offending levels than their unassimilated peers,” suggesting a causal link between American assimilation and likelihood of offending.
Beyond incarceration and conviction rates, investigations by The New York Times and The Marshall Project found no link between undocumented immigrants and a rise in violent or property crime in those communities between 2007 and 2016. Rather, the opposite is true.
An NBC News review of 2024 crime data from the cities targeted by Texas’ “Operation Lone Star,” which buses migrants from the border to major cities and increases border militarization, shows that the overall crime levels in these cities have actually decreased.
Further, a common misconception among critics is that crime is more prevalent in “sanctuary cities.” Yet, a Department of Justice report found “no evidence that the percentage of unauthorized or authorized immigrant population at the city level impacted shifts in the homicide rates and no evidence that immigration is connected to robbery at the city level.”
Real Consequences
False and harmful rhetoric about immigrants not only affects the immigrant community in the U.S., but also has repercussions for millions of U.S. citizens who are influenced by these misleading messages.
The tragic murder of University of Georgia student Laken Riley by an undocumented immigrant has become a focal point for the GOP’s campaign to criminalize immigrants. It has led to the introduction of harmful policies affecting im/migrant well-being, such as Georgia HB 1105, which would “require local and state law officials to verify the immigration status of those over the age of 18 who have been arrested, those in detention or those who an ‘officer has probable cause to believe’ have committed a crime.” Such legislation would result in discriminatory racial profiling of immigrant communities while failing to make Georgia safer. This scapegoating has also incited threats of violence against Latino students at the University of Georgia.
Moreover, this harmful narrative also serves to obscure other important realities about crime, such as the increasing violence against women. In fact, 41 percent of American women have experienced physical or emotional violence by an intimate partner, and one in three report having experienced severe physical or emotional violence. Despite the gravity of the issue, no legislation has been introduced to address this growing problem affecting all Americans.
With more harmful immigration policies likely to emerge in the upcoming months, it is more important than ever to be aware of the facts and what is at stake for im/migrants and their well-being.
Karla Madera Tejada is a recent graduate of The George Washington University, where she majored in Political Science and Criminal Justice. Her areas of expertise include immigration law research and policy, with a focus on the complexities and challenges of the U.S. immigration system.