Unlawful immigrants have been blamed for a spike in crime at the highest level. However, claims linking unlawful immigration to an upsurge in crimes are disputed by recent studies that fail to find a link.
Recently, four academic studies found that illegal immigration does not increase the likelihood of violent crime or drug and alcohol problems, reported NPR.
Some of these studies even suggested undocumented migrants commit fewer crimes than others. Michael Light is a criminologist at the University of Wisconsin. He researched whether the massive increase in illegal immigration over the last 30 years led to a jump in killings robberies, rapes, and aggravated assault.
Immigrant crimes – studies find little link between crime and immigration
He found there was no correlation between the rise in undocumented immigration and violent crime. Light’s findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Criminology.
A study by the Cato Institute looked at criminality among undocumented immigrants in Texas alone, a state that records the immigration status of people who are arrested.
The Cato study found in 2015, arrest and crime rates in Texas for undocumented immigrants were lower than those of people born in America for the crimes of murder, sexual assault, and larceny.
A second study from the University of Wisconsin considered non-violent crimes. The researchers also found a rise in undocumented immigration did not equate to an increase in drug and alcohol arrests or more overdose or drunk driving deaths. Light said:
“We found no evidence that undocumented immigration increases the prevalence of any of those outcomes.”
The fourth study, a research paper published in the British journal Migration Letters suggested young undocumented immigrants engage in less crime than legal immigrants or U.S.-born peers
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