Latest Outrage

Connecting Immigrants with Crime: Fast and Loose with the Facts

February 28th, 2008

Perhaps NCLR shouldn't be surprised that one of the responses to the launch of this website has been a barrage of emails from people using the very code words that we highlight. A few zealous senders of email are working very hard to try to convince us that immigrants really are responsible for crime in America. And of course, they get a lot of aid and comfort from the hate groups that appear on the airwaves spouting the same lines.

So, just in case anyone is interested in the facts, the Immigration Policy Center has an exellent study on the subject and the Fresno Bee published a useful piece, which we've reprinted below.

Immigrants aren't the threat some say they are
'Public safety' isn't a reason to limit debate on immigration.
02/26/08 22:40:41
Are those born outside the United States more or less likely than the native-born to commit crimes?
We do know that the foreign-born are more likely to be young, male and have less than a high school diploma, all factors that can contribute to involvement with crime.
Yet a new study released by the Public Policy Institute of California, "Crime, Corrections and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do With It?" finds what previous national studies have found. Young males born outside the United States who have less than a high school diploma have extremely low rates of incarceration in California state prisons and county jails.
More than 13% of U.S.-born men aged 18 to 40 who have less than a high school diploma are in California state prisons, county jails, halfway houses and the like, according to 2000 census data. For the foreign-born in that category, it is less than 1% (0.5%).
Further, rates of both violent and property crime in California (and the nation) have fallen dramatically since the early 1990s (to levels not seen since the 1970s), during a period of high immigration. The researchers looked at 29 California cities between the years 2000 and 2005. They found that cities with higher rates of newly arrived immigrants showed, on average, a greater decline in crime rates than cities with lower rates of newly arrived immigrants.
This research has significant implications. Many fearmongers cite "public safety" to justify limiting immigration, favoring high-skilled immigrants and/or increasing sentences (to deter noncitizens from committing crimes).
That's not necessary. The foreign-born, including those with little education, show remarkably low rates of criminal activity.
This reality is yet another reason why immigration baiting will continue to be, as Republican pollster David Hill puts it, "a dud of an electoral issue."
The obsession of a few vocal xenophobes, from Rush Limbaugh to Lou Dobbs, just doesn't match actual facts on the ground.
So let's debate the real policy implications of the immigration question, and not get detracted by the grenades thrown in by those who'd rather exploit this issue. We need a comprehensive immigration reform bill. When will Congress deal with the substance of this important issue?