Debate Desk
Do Immigrants Commit Less Crime, So Is Enforcement Pointless?
Immigrants as a group may commit less crime, but that is no reason to ignore criminals among them or to leave the border without rules.
The claim
Researchers often report that immigrants, including those here illegally, are arrested and incarcerated at lower rates than native-born Americans. If that is so, say critics of enforcement, then deportation and border security are solutions in search of a problem, and talk of crime is a cover for hostility to newcomers.
The answer in three points
- The statistic describes a group, and a rule of law deals with individuals. Whatever the average, each crime committed by someone who should not have been here, or who was removed and returned, is a failure the law could have prevented. Victims do not experience an average.
- The data are poor. Many states do not record immigration status in arrest or prison records, so studies rely on estimates. Findings differ by state and by method, and the reliable answer is that research is mixed and incomplete.
- Enforcement is not only about crime. A country decides who may enter and on what terms, and it asks that those who come do so through the law. A person who enters illegally has broken that rule at the outset, and a nation that does not apply its rules has no rules.
Use the statistic for what it is. It is a reason to speak of newcomers with respect and to avoid blaming whole communities. It is not a reason to skip the background check, the removal of a convicted offender, or the plain rule that those who wish to live here should ask first.
The numbers
- The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's 2015 report, The Integration of Immigrants into American Society, found that immigrants overall have lower rates of crime than the native-born, while noting limits in the data.
- Texas is one of the few states that records immigration status in its criminal justice data, and its Department of Public Safety publishes conviction counts by status.
- The Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed several hundred thousand people in fiscal years with high enforcement, according to ICE's annual reports.
What they will say next
"Studies from Texas show lower rates for illegal immigrants." Studies vary in method, and the authors who find lower rates and those who find higher ones are working from imperfect numbers. Neither result excuses ignoring the crimes that do occur.
"Cities with more immigrants are safer." Cities with immigrant populations may also differ in many other ways. A correlation of this kind does not show that enforcement is unnecessary.
"Deportation breaks up families." It can, and the law offers relief in appropriate cases. A policy that never removes anyone is a policy that has no limit, and families who follow the law wait years for the same benefit.
"The border is about labor, not crime." It is about both, and about sovereignty. Orderly entry serves workers, employers and the public alike.