Despite persistent political rhetoric, decades of research consistently show that immigrants commit crime at lower rates than U.S.-born Americans. The Anti-Immigrant crowd love to frame the discussion around the title they have given to immigrants as “illegals.” Whether they are being purposely misleading for their political ambitions or are just stupid, the term is completely inappropriate. Immigration law and enforcement is an administrative process. Human beings can have an “illegal status” but they are not, by nature, “illegal.” If you violate immigration law, you will not have a criminal record. It is not a criminal act, despite what certain pundits will try and tell you. Add to that, the vast majority of immigrants commit no crimes and are upstanding and contributing members to building a stronger better country. Alas, stupid people need someone to blame for their shortcomings; hence, they attack immigrants.
So lets look at the actual facts from several different sources. One of the clearest summaries comes from the American Immigration Council, which reviewed national and local studies and found no evidence that immigration increases crime. In fact, many studies show the opposite: communities with higher immigrant populations often experience lower rates of violent crime. Similarly, the Migration Policy Institute reports that immigrants—regardless of status—are less likely to be incarcerated than native-born citizens. These conclusions are based on large-scale analyses of Census data, FBI crime statistics, and state incarceration records.
Economists at the Cato Institute have gone further, comparing incarceration rates directly. Their findings show that undocumented immigrants are significantly less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born Americans, and even less likely than native-born citizens without a high school diploma. Stanford researchers have reached similar conclusions, noting that immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the U.S.-born population for more than a century, including during periods of high immigration.
Why does this myth persist despite overwhelming evidence? Part of the answer lies in how immigration enforcement data is misused. Immigration arrests are often conflated with criminal arrests, even though the vast majority of immigration violations are civil, not criminal. In immigration court, you “affirm or deny”, you do not plead “guilty or not guilty.” Another factor is selective anecdotal reporting—isolated crimes committed by noncitizens are amplified to suggest a trend that simply does not exist in the data.
The takeaway is straightforward: immigration does not drive crime. Policy debates should be grounded in evidence, not fear. When lawmakers and commentators claim that immigrants make communities less safe, they are contradicting a well-established body of research. The facts tell a different story—one in which immigrants are, on average, more law-abiding than the native-born population and contribute to community stability rather than insecurity.
So when Trump says they are “rounding up the worst criminals”, he’s talking about moms, children, your neighbor… just regular people seeking a better life, just like all of our ancestors did at one point. There are lawful pathways to immigration status and each of these people should be given the opportunity to seek those options and not be treated like criminals. They are human beings who deserve, at the very least, modicum of respect.
