Illegal immigration to the United States and crime

The issue of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a topic that is often asserted by more conservative politicians and media outlets when discussing immigration policy in the United States.

There is scholarly consensus that illegal immigrants commit less crime than natives.[1][2] Sanctuary cities—which adopt policies designed to avoid prosecuting people solely for being in the country illegally—have no statistically meaningful impact on crime, and may reduce the crime rate.[3][4] Research suggests that immigration enforcement has no impact on crime rates.[5][6][3]

Some commentators argue that some of the claims linking immigration to crime are made in bad faith.[7][8][9][10]

  1. ^ Hesson, Ted; Rosenberg, Mica; Hesson, Ted; Rosenberg, Mica (July 16, 2024). "Trump says migrants are fueling violent crime. Here is what the research shows". Reuters. Retrieved July 28, 2024. A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans. A more limited universe of studies specifically examine criminality among immigrants in the U.S. illegally but also find that they do not commit crimes at a higher rate.
  2. ^ Gonzalez, Benjamin; Collingwood, Loren; El-Khatib, Stephen Omar (2019). "The Politics of Refuge: Sanctuary Cities, Crime, and Undocumented Immigration". Urban Affairs Review. 55: 107808741770497. doi:10.1177/1078087417704974. S2CID 32604699. Quote: "most studies have shown that illegal immigrants tend to commit less crime than the native born"
  3. ^ a b Collingwood, Loren; Gonzalez-O'Brien, Benjamin; El-Khatib, Stephen (October 3, 2016). "Sanctuary cities do not experience an increase in crime". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  4. ^ Martínez, Daniel E.; Martínez-Schuldt, Ricardo D.; Cantor, Guillermo (2017). "Providing Sanctuary or Fostering Crime? A Review of the Research on "Sanctuary Cities" and Crime". Sociology Compass. 12: e12547. doi:10.1111/soc4.12547. ISSN 1751-9020.
  5. ^ Miles, Thomas J.; Cox, Adam B. (October 21, 2015). "Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities". The Journal of Law and Economics. 57 (4): 937–973. doi:10.1086/680935. S2CID 8406495.
  6. ^ Baker, Scott R. (2015). "Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime". American Economic Review. 105 (5): 210–213. doi:10.1257/aer.p20151041.
  7. ^ "John Oliver on Republican 'migrant crime' rhetoric: 'relentless, bad-faith fearmongering'". The Guardian. July 22, 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  8. ^ Golshan, Tara (June 19, 2018). "House Republicans are having a bad-faith immigration debate". Vox. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  9. ^ Board, Editorial (January 28, 2024). "Bad faith negotiations: No immigration restriction is enough for Trump & GOP". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  10. ^ "US House impeaches Biden's immigration chief Mayorkas over border crisis". Al Jazeera. February 14, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.