Immigrants and crime: New study rebuts Trump claims
U.S. cities that take in larger numbers of undocumented immigrants do not see a correlation with higher rates of violent and property crime, a new study by the Marshall Project and the New York Times has found.
The study debunks one of President Trump’s favorite talking points, that undocumented immigrants represent a criminal risk to Americans. That idea has been central to Trump’s political rise and was articulated when he announced his candidacy for president on June 16, 2015.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. they’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” Trump said.
Since taking office, Trump has repeated the claim that undocumented immigrants are prone to crime and that U.S. metro areas designated as “sanctuary cities” suffer as a result.
But the new study compared recent estimates of undocumented populations in metro areas with local crime rates published by the FBI and found that a significant majority of urban areas reported decreases in violent and property crime between 2007 and 2016.
The study showed that the decreases in metro crime rates were independent of changes in the undocumented population.
There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018
The new research, while perhaps the most detailed, is just the latest to refute Trump’s claims about undocumented immigrants and crime.
A 2018 study by the Cato Institute, for example, found that in Texas, immigrants — legal or undocumented — committed fewer crimes than native-born U.S. residents. Another study across all 50 states had similar results.
A separate study published in March 2018 in the journal Criminology found that states with more undocumented immigrants have lower crime rates than those with fewer.
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