Does Illegal Immigration Result in Higher Crime Rate?

Posted by tomer rival on April 27th, 2018

Many people, President Donald Trump in particular, believe that immigrants are the major reason for high crime rates in U.S. cities. Is that true? What is immigrants' share in the overall number of crimes committed in the country in comparison to the native population?  

The Trump's administration vehemently criticizes local authorities which provide sanctuary jurisdiction for illegal immigrants and even prefer to release them rather than turn them over to Federal agencies, mainly the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). From the point of view of the White House, local authorities' reluctance to cooperate with the Federal government puts the country at high risk.

The Case of San Francisco

San Francisco is a sanctuary city for immigrants since 1989. The 'City and County of Refuge Ordinance' issued that year prohibited the city from allocating resources to help the ICE enforce Federal immigration laws. Another ordinance issued in 2013 ban local authorities from arresting an immigrant individual if this arrest was requested by the ICE.

White House officials will be surprised to learn that despite all these measures taken by San Francisco to protect those they define as potential criminals, crime rate in the city dropped by 10%in2016 compared to 2015. Violent crime dropped by 8% and property crime dropped by 11%.

California – One Big Sanctuary Jurisdiction

In 2017, the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed a law that effectively turned the whole state into a sanctuary jurisdiction. According to this law, the state is not allowed to convey information about an individual to Federal immigration agencies unless he has been convicted of a crime.

What about crime rate in California? Here the data are not clear cut as in the case of San Francisco. In 2016, violent crime increased by close to 4%. However, property crime declined by 3%.

Another Case Study: New York City

Much like San Francisco, New York's sanctuary policy was officially enacted in 1989. Executive Order number 124 dictates that the city's officials are not allowed to fulfill any Federal request to detain an illegal immigrant unless that individual was convicted of a severe crime. What is more, the city's officials refuse to allocate resources to help the ICE.

What do crime data in the Big Apple reveal? New York is considered one of the safest cities in the entire country. Violent crime rate has been decreasing continuously since the year 2000. Homicide rate was at a 66-year low last year.

The Big Picture

People tend to be afraid of immigrants as they see them as a threat to their overall safety. Immigrants are perceived to be more prone to committing property and violent crimes.

Reality tells a completely different story. Foreigners are less likely to commit crimes and if they do get entangled with the law, it is usually for a misdemeanor offense. The main reason for immigrants' lesser involvement in serious crimes is their desire to keep low profile so that they can t work and earn money, which is why they immigrated to begin with.

More than that, illegal immigrants tend to be victims of hate crimes committed as a result of racism and xenophobia. An immigrant who has fallen victim to a crime will rarely turn to the police for help fearing that he might get deported.

To conclude, we must not take for granted all kinds of intimidations and fear spread by politicians regarding foreigners. Politicians have their own interests which do not necessarily go hand in hand with the truth or with public interest. The best thing you can do if you have any doubt about a person, regardless of his/her origin, is to check his /her background. There are many websites on the Internet that provide this service at a very low price.