Undocumented Immigration May Make Communities Safer

The increase in undocumented immigration into the United States over the past two decades has fueled controversies about public safety impacts. President Trump has stated explicitly, both during his campaign and as president, that undocumented immigrants, specifically from Latin American countries, are “bringing drugs [and] crime” into the country, and that they are largely “rapists.” This belief that undocumented immigrants pose a threat to public safety has led to significant increases in funding for immigration enforcement agencies, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and punitive laws in states like Arizona and Alabama. However, a recent study by Michael Light and Ty Miller not only refutes these beliefs, but also asserts that undocumented immigration may have contributed to the decline in violent crime in the U.S. over the past 20 years.

With data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Pew Research Center, U.S. Census, National Prisoner Statistics, the Center for Migration Studies, and local police reports from American counties, Light and Miller provide an analysis of the effect of undocumented immigration on the level of violent crime, including homicide, robbery, assault, and rape. Across all of these measures, unauthorized immigration has a strong negative relationship with crime.

This result not only runs counter to the present national dialogue on undocumented immigration, but it also counters existing criminology research on this community’s impact on crime. That is, undocumented immigrants experience significant barriers to public benefits and services regarding healthcare, housing, and employment. This often leads to economic deprivation that drives many to commit crime. Further, the fear of detection and deportation may encourage some undocumented immigrants to resolve disputes personally and sometimes violently rather than involving local law enforcement. Based on these reasons and empirical evidence, one might expect that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes merely to survive.

The current research requires a shift in our understanding of the behavior of undocumented immigrants and its effect on crime rates. The authors cite other research that proposes that this population may have common attributes, called “selective immigration,” like high motivation to work or a low propensity to violence, which brought them to the U.S. in the first place. These attributes also encourage them to be law-abiding residents. For example, three years ago, the City of Chicago began offering the Star Scholarship to high school seniors, documented or not, entering community college. The city estimates that more than 20 percent of the 3,000 winners have been undocumented students. The open nature of the policy was motivated by the idea that undocumented immigrants are intrinsically motivated to succeed. The scholarship provides an opportunity for all students to contribute to their communities and the country through higher education.

Moreover, undocumented immigrants may avoid breaking the law simply to avoid deportation while others believe that strong immigrant networks help facilitate economic and social integration, allowing newly arrived undocumented immigrants to better assimilate and succeed lawfully. In Little Village, a southwest neighborhood in Chicago, local activists, legal experts, and neighborhood leaders formed the Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) to spread knowledge about legal rights and guard against impending ICE raids. While OCAD has not yet had to address raids and deportations, they have provided workshops and phone trees to educate their neighbors on how to stay safe and thrive despite increasingly hostile public policies.

While shifting the general perception of undocumented immigrants is an important goal of this study, shifting public policy to better align with reality is equally critical. First, policymakers should consider spending less money on immigration enforcement programs that have proven to be ineffective in reducing crime rates. Other evidence indicates that immigration reduces crime more in cities with laws that support immigrant groups, like “sanctuary” policies, which should encourage lawmakers to not only end punitive laws against undocumented immigrants, but also increase accessibility to social services for this population. Reshaping the dialogue around immigration could make American communities more educated, economically vibrant, and safe.

Article source: Light, Michael T. and Ty Miller, “Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime?” Criminology 56, Issue 2 (2018): 370-401.

Featured photo: cc/(Andrea Zangrilli, photo ID: 955845332, from iStock by Getty Images)