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The Truth About Immigration: Crime
Originally published in 2018, this second article in a five-part series remains relevant and includes updated sources and data
Immigrants to the United States are considerably less likely than U.S.-born citizens to commit crimes or to be incarcerated. This is a well-known fact. But listening to president-elect Trump, his staff, and his followers, you would think that immigrants commit all the worst crimes in the United States based on a bunch of unfounded, nonsensical rhetoric.
To understand why the numbers of immigrants who commit crimes are so low, it’s critical to understand why immigrants have fewer interactions with the criminal justice system in general.
Immigrants are subject to various types of screening. In other words, institutions are incentivized to receive migrants who have an advantage relative to counterparts in their countries of origin making them less disposed to commit crimes. Self-selection of low-crime-propensity immigrants into the United States is a major driver — not deportation. Fear of deportation is not a major factor in low crime rates among immigrants.
The broader question of how immigrants affect crime rates requires an understanding of how changes in the legal status of immigrants can affect…
