“Foreign-born residents of the United States commit crime less often than native-born citizens,” The Sentencing Project summarized. “Policies that further restrict immigration are therefore not effective crime-control strategies. These facts — supported by over 100 years of research – have been misrepresented both historically and in recent political debates.”
It also made these four conclusions from its research, the last of which corroborates the Cato Institute’s findings:
-
“Immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens.”
-
“Higher levels of immigration in recent decades may have contributed to the historic drop in crime rates.”
-
“Police chiefs believe that intensifying immigration law enforcement undermines public safety.”
-
“Immigrants are under-represented in U.S. prisons.”
“Illegal immigrants are 44 percent less likely to be incarcerated than natives,” Cato wrote.
"Legal immigrants are 69 percent less likely to be incarcerated than natives. Legal and illegal immigrants are underrepresented in the incarcerated population while natives are overrepresented.
“If native-born Americans were incarcerated at the same rate as illegal immigrants, about 893,000 fewer natives would be incarcerated. If natives were incarcerated at the same rate as legal immigrants, about 1.4 million fewer natives would be incarcerated.”
Democrats opposing President Donald Trump’s budget and immigration orders are sure to use this information in their arguments.
