Illegal immigration to the United States and crime

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Crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a legal and political issue in the United States.

In the United States, illegal immigration is a federal offense under 8 U.S.C. § 1325.[1] The maximum punishment, six months' prison term for the first offense,[1] is equivalent to a misdemeanor in United States law, which is lower than a felony.

The issue of crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States is a topic that is often asserted by more conservative politicians and media outlets when discussing immigration policy in the United States.

There is scholarly consensus that illegal immigrants commit less crime than natives.[2][3] Sanctuary cities—which limit or deny cooperation with the national government in enforcing immigration law—have no statistically meaningful impact on crime, and may reduce the crime rate.[4][5] Research suggests that immigration enforcement has no impact on crime rates.[6][7][4]

Some commentators argue that some of the claims linking immigration to crime are made in bad faith.[8][9][10][11]

## Research

[edit]

### Relationship between immigration status and crime

[edit]

Further information: Immigration and crime and Victimology

Entering the US without documented permission from the US government is an "offense" or a misdemeanor.[1] According to some empirical evidence that disregarded illegal immigration itself as a crime, immigrants (including illegal immigrants) were otherwise less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens in the United States.[12][13][14][15][16]

A 2020 paper by the Cato Institute found that the illegal immigrant conviction rate in Texas was 45 percent lower than the conviction rate of native-born Texans. Texas is the only state that gathers an arrestee's biometric data through the Department of Homeland Security's system tracking illegal immigrants and that maintains the records of an arrestee's immigration status.[17]

A 2018 study found that undocumented immigration to the United States did not increase violent crime rates.[18] A 2017 study found that "Increased undocumented immigration was significantly associated with reductions in drug arrests, drug overdose deaths, and DUI arrests, net of other factors."[19] A 2017 study found that California's extension of driving licenses to unauthorized immigrants "did not increase the total number of accidents or the occurrence of fatal accidents, but it did reduce the likelihood of hit and run accidents, thereby improving traffic safety and reducing costs for California drivers ... providing unauthorized immigrants with access to driver's licenses can create positive externalities for the communities in which they live."[20]

A 2018 study in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy found that by restricting the employment opportunities for unauthorized immigrants, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) likely caused an increase in crime rates.[21][22] A 2018 PLOS One study estimated that the undocumented immigrant population in the United States was 22 million, approximately twice as large as the estimate derived from the United States Census Bureau's figures. An author of the study notes that this has implications for the relationship between undocumented immigration and crime, suggesting that the crime rate among undocumented immigrants is significantly lower than previously estimated: "You have the same number of crimes but now spread over twice as many people as was believed before, which right away means that the crime rate among undocumented immigrants is essentially half whatever was previously believed."[23]

According to analysis of the 2010 United States Census, "immigrants to the United States are significantly less likely than native-born citizens to be incarcerated. The authors found that 1.6 percent of immigrant males age 18–39 are incarcerated, compared to 3.3 percent of the native-born... The divide was even sharper when the authors examined the incarceration rate among immigrant men the authors believe likely to be undocumented — specifically less-educated men from El Salvador and Guatemala between age 18–29. ... According to the analysis, these likely undocumented immigrants had an incarceration rate of 1.7 percent, compared with 10.7 percent for native-born men without a high school diploma".[24]

A 2016 study of an effort to reduce crime in North Carolina by identifying and deporting illegal immigrants showed no correlation between increased deportation enforcement and local crime rates.[25]

A 2018 study found no evidence that apprehensions of undocumented immigrants in districts in the United States reduced crime rates.[26]

A 2020 study found that native-born US citizens are incarcerated at higher rates for homicide in Texas than undocumented immigrants.[27]

According to immigration analyst Alex Nowrasteh, and criminologist Barry Latzer, Texas is the only state that tracks illegal immigrants by the specific crime committed.[28][29][30] Homicide data are regarded as more accurate than data on other crimes because "a much higher proportion of murders are solved."[30] The Texas data for 2016 showed that the rate of murder convictions in 2016 was 3.2 per 100,000 native-born Americans, 0.9 for every 100,000 legal immigrants and 1.8 per 100,000 illegal immigrants.[28][29]

### Perception

[edit]

See also: Fearmongering, Dog whistle (politics), Sensationalism, and Disinformation

Research suggests that people overestimate the relationship between immigration and criminality.[31]

A January 2024 survey in the U.S. found that 57% of Americans believe migrants lead to more crime, which some experts attribute to anecdotal media stories that lack context.[32][33] Graham Ousey believes the perception stems from flashpoint events that politicians use to push up the myth that immigrants create more crime.[34][35] Donald Trump has been the most prominent promoter of the false link between immigration and crime, according to the Associated Press.[36] Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera argues it is a cornerstone of the MAGA platform.[37][38]

Americans dramatically overestimate the relationship between refugees and terrorism.[39] A 2020 study of media coverage from 1900-2013 found an increasing framing of stories in prominent news media helps to explain the misperception among many Americans that immigration increases crime, such as treating immigration itself as a crime and covering fewer crimes committed against immigrants.[40] A 2018 study found that media coverage of immigrants in the United States has a general tendency to emphasize illegality and/or criminal behavior in a way that is inconsistent with actual immigrant demographics.[41] These findings are consistent with a 2019 study showing that the news covering crime implies that there is a racial or immigration factor based on the stories selected and descriptors of the suspects, creating an inaccurate view of the impacts of immigration on crime, which are not significant.[42] A study of coverage of refugees in the Guardian and the Times in the UK from 2015-2018 found that media portrayals made muslim refugees seem like threats to the economy or security and exaggerated differences between these refugees and the native population.[43]

#### Political consequences

[edit]

See also: Stochastic terrorism

Research suggests a vicious cycle of bigotry and immigrant alienation could exacerbate immigrant criminality and bigotry. For instance, UC San Diego political scientist Claire Adida, Stanford University political scientist David Laitin, and Sorbonne University economist Marie-Anne Valfort argue:

> [F]ear-based policies that target groups of people according to their religion or region of origin are counter-productive. Our own research, which explains the failed integration of Muslim immigrants in France, suggests that such policies can feed into a vicious cycle that damages national security. French Islamophobia—a response to cultural difference—has encouraged Muslim immigrants to withdraw from French society, which then feeds back into French Islamophobia, thus further exacerbating Muslims' alienation, and so on. Indeed, the failure of French security in 2015 was likely due to police tactics that intimidated rather than welcomed the children of immigrants—an approach that makes it hard to obtain crucial information from community members about potential threats.[44]

A study of the long-run effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks found that the post-9/11 increase in hate crimes against Muslims decreased assimilation by Muslim immigrants.[45] Controlling for relevant factors, the authors found that "Muslim immigrants living in states with the sharpest increase in hate crimes also exhibit: greater chances of marrying within their own ethnic group; higher fertility; lower female labour force participation; and lower English proficiency."[45] Hate crimes and family separation have also been consequences of rhetoric linking crime to migration from Mexico.[32] Individuals who believe that African Americans and Hispanics are more prone to violence are more likely to support capital punishment.[46]

The Dillingham Commission singled out immigrants from Southern Europe for their involvement in violent crime (even though the data did not support its conclusions).[47][36] The commission's overall findings provided the rationale for sweeping 1920s immigration-reduction acts, including the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which favored immigration from northern and western Europe by restricting the annual number of immigrants from any given country to 3 percent of the total number of people from that country living in the United States in 1910. The movement for immigration restriction that the Dillingham Commission helped to stimulate culminated in the National Origins Formula, part of the Immigration Act of 1924, which capped national immigration at 150,000 annually and completely barred immigration from Asia.[48]

## Procedures

[edit]

Individuals who are in the United States illegally and who have been convicted of crimes are eligible to be deported under federal law.[49] Research suggests that immigration enforcement has no impact on crime rates.[50][51][52]

### Sanctuary cities

[edit]

Crimes committed by illegal immigrants who had previously been arrested or convicted of crimes have been a focus of particular attention.[53][54] Sanctuary cities—which adopt policies designed to avoid prosecuting people solely for being in the country illegally—have no statistically meaningful impact on crime, and may reduce the crime rate.[52][55]

Discussion has been particularly intense when an illegal alien has been arrested for a minor offense and is known to be in the country illegally is released because the jurisdiction where he was arrested is a sanctuary city that limits police cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE,) and goes on to commit a new crime.[53][56] Examples include the 2018 Tulare County shootings, where the suspect had previously served time in American prisons and been deported twice before being arrested on a misdemeanor and released under California Sanctuary Law SB54 the day before he killed two and wounded seven in a spree shooting.[57]

## Laws and regulations

[edit]

### Special Order 40 (1979)

[edit]

Special Order 40 is a directive issued jointly by the Los Angeles City Council and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) under Chief Daryl Gates and the Los Angeles City Council in 1979 prohibiting officers of the LAPD officers from questioning individuals for the sole purpose of whether they were in the United States legally.[58] The Special Order was the center of controversy following the 2008 Murder of Jamiel Shaw II by a perpetrator who was a member of the 18th Street gang and an illegal immigrant to the United States.[59][60][61][62] An effort to put a repeal measure on the ballot in 2009 failed.[63] Police Commissioner William Bratton successfully opposed rescinding the Special Order.[58]

### Arizona SB 1070 (2010)

[edit]

The Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (Arizona SB 1070) was enacted by the Arizona legislature in 2010 as a response to broad public dislike of illegal immigration among Arizona voters, and by a widespread belief that a great deal of crime was being committed by illegal immigrants that persisted despite a scholarly consensus that illegal immigrants commit proportionately fewer crimes than American citizens and that crime was declining at the border.[64] Public support for the bill was driven by the March 2010 murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz.[64]

### Texas Senate Bill 4 (2017)

[edit]

Texas Senate Bill 4 was enacted in 2017 to block municipalities in Texas from becoming sanctuary cities, that is, to prevent local authorities from refusing to cooperate with federal authorities in enforcing immigration laws by directing police and court officials not to question persons accused of crimes about their immigration status and to ignore requests by federal authorities to hold individuals who are in the country illegally and have been arrested for minor crimes for deportation.[65] Texas Senate Bill 4 also allows police officers to check the immigration status of those they detain if they choose.[65][66][needs update]

## Political debate

[edit]

### “Trump Hypothesis” and 2016 Presidential election

[edit]

During his presidential campaign Donald Trump asserted that the immigrants are responsible for higher levels of violent and drug-related crime in the United States. A 2016 study was undertaken to test this hypothesis, specifically with regard to immigrants from Mexico. According to the study, "Results largely contradict the Trump Hypothesis: no evidence links Mexican or undocumented Mexican immigrants specifically to violent or drug-related crime."[67]

In July 2015, Donald Trump invited what he terms Angel Families, families who have had a member killed by an illegal immigrant to meet with him. Some had lost relatives in road accidents, others were shot or stabbed, but all had family members who died due to actions taken by what Trump describes as people who never should have been in the U.S. in the first place. The Remembrance Project, a nonprofit that works to draw attention to the victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, helped the campaign locate families of victims.[68]

During the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries, a political advertisement showing mugshots of illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes in the U.S. alternate with footage of candidate Jeb Bush saying, "Yeah, they broke the law, but it's not a felony.... It's an act of love,"[69][70] is regarded as having played a role in Bush's withdrawal from the race.[71] At a May 2016 campaign rally, Trump told an audience that illegal immigrants “Raped, sodomized and killed" Americans.[72] Jamiel Shaw, Sr., the father of a high school student murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2008, became a spokesman for the Trump campaign.[73]

### Trump Presidency

[edit]

During his presidency, Donald Trump had repeatedly asserted that crimes committed by illegal immigrants to the United States make the construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border an urgent necessity. Trump's assertions about crimes committed by illegal immigrants were regularly shown to be inaccurate.[74][75]

The latest rise in crime occurred in 2020 during the Trump presidency, when immigration was historically low due to COVID restrictions.[76]

### 2018 midterm election

[edit]

"One Nation," a political nonprofit supporting Republican candidates, produced an ad showing a masked, knife-wielding man with a voice saying, “We need tough immigration enforcement to keep dangerous criminals out.”[72] Other ads criticized sanctuary cities, something Matt Gorman, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that many Americans oppose.[72]

### 2024 election

[edit]

See also: Laken Riley Act and IIRAIRA

Some politicians and commentators have criticized the most vocal commentators linking immigration and crime as doing so in bad faith for political gain.[77][8][78][79]

A January 2024 survey in the U.S. found that 57% of Americans believe migrants lead to more crime, which some experts attribute to anecdotal media stories that lack context.[80][81] Graham Ousey believes the perception stems from flashpoint events that politicians use to push up the myth that immigrants create more crime.[82][83] Donald Trump has been the most prominent promoter of the false link between immigration and crime, according to the Associated Press.[84] Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera argues it is a cornerstone of the MAGA platform.[85][86]

## See also

[edit]

* Immigration and crime
* Immigration and crime in Germany
* Disinformation
* Dog whistle (politics)
* Fear of crime
* Fearmongering
* Human trafficking in the United States
* Race and crime in the United States
* Sensationalism

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "8 U.S. Code § 1325 - Improper entry by alien". Cornell University School of Law, Legal Information Institute. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
2. ^ Hesson, Ted; Rosenberg, Mica; Hesson, Ted; Rosenberg, Mica (July 16, 2024). "Trump says migrants are fueling violent crime. Here is what the research shows". Reuters. Retrieved July 28, 2024. "A range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crime at a higher rate than native-born Americans. A more limited universe of studies specifically examine criminality among immigrants in the U.S. illegally but also find that they do not commit crimes at a higher rate."
3. ^ Gonzalez, Benjamin; Collingwood, Loren; El-Khatib, Stephen Omar (2019). "The Politics of Refuge: Sanctuary Cities, Crime, and Undocumented Immigration". Urban Affairs Review. 55: 107808741770497. doi:10.1177/1078087417704974. S2CID 32604699. Quote: "most studies have shown that illegal immigrants tend to commit less crime than the native born"
4. ^ a b Collingwood, Loren; Gonzalez-O'Brien, Benjamin; El-Khatib, Stephen (October 3, 2016). "Sanctuary cities do not experience an increase in crime". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
5. ^ Martínez, Daniel E.; Martínez-Schuldt, Ricardo D.; Cantor, Guillermo (2017). "Providing Sanctuary or Fostering Crime? A Review of the Research on "Sanctuary Cities" and Crime". Sociology Compass. 12: e12547. doi:10.1111/soc4.12547. ISSN 1751-9020.
6. ^ Miles, Thomas J.; Cox, Adam B. (October 21, 2015). "Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities". The Journal of Law and Economics. 57 (4): 937–973\. doi:10.1086/680935. S2CID 8406495.
7. ^ Baker, Scott R. (2015). "Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime". American Economic Review. 105 (5): 210–213\. doi:10.1257/aer.p20151041.
8. ^ a b "John Oliver on Republican 'migrant crime' rhetoric: 'relentless, bad-faith fearmongering'". The Guardian. July 22, 2024. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
9. ^ Golshan, Tara (June 19, 2018). "House Republicans are having a bad-faith immigration debate". Vox. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
10. ^ Board, Editorial (January 28, 2024). "Bad faith negotiations: No immigration restriction is enough for Trump & GOP". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
11. ^ "US House impeaches Biden's immigration chief Mayorkas over border crisis". Al Jazeera. February 14, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
12. ^ "Are immigrants more likely to commit crimes? | Econofact". Econofact. February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2017.
13. ^ "Trump calls for creation of office to support victims of crimes by illegal immigrants". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 4, 2017. "On the campaign trail, Trump said he would seek to quickly deport between 2 million and 3 million immigrants with criminal records. But a study by the Migration Policy Institute found that 820,000 unauthorized immigrants had committed other crimes, including about 300,000 with felony records"
14. ^ "Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It? (PPIC Publication)". www.ppic.org. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
15. ^ Gonzalez, Benjamin; Collingwood, Loren; El-Khatib, Stephen Omar (May 7, 2017). "The Politics of Refuge: Sanctuary Cities, Crime, and Undocumented Immigration". Urban Affairs Review. 55: 107808741770497. doi:10.1177/1078087417704974. S2CID 32604699. Quote: "most studies have shown that undocumented immigrants tend to commit less crime than the native born"
16. ^ "Trump immigration claim has no data to back it up". PolitiFact. Retrieved August 22, 2017. "... every expert we polled said there is a consensus among scholars that undocumented immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens."
17. ^ "Illegal Immigration and Crime in Texas". www.cato.org. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
18. ^ Light, Michael T.; Miller, TY (2018). "Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime?". Criminology. 56 (2): 370–401\. doi:10.1111/1745-9125.12175. ISSN 1745-9125. PMC 6241529. PMID 30464356.
19. ^ Light, Michael T.; Miller, Ty; Kelly, Brian C. (July 20, 2017). "Undocumented Immigration, Drug Problems, and Driving Under the Influence in the United States, 1990–2014". American Journal of Public Health. 107 (9): e1 – e7. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303884. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 5551598. PMID 28727520.
20. ^ Lueders, Hans; Hainmueller, Jens; Lawrence, Duncan (April 18, 2017). "Providing driver's licenses to unauthorized immigrants in California improves traffic safety". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (16): 4111–4116\. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.4111L. doi:10.1073/pnas.1618991114. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 5402447. PMID 28373538.
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26. ^ "Do Apprehensions of Undocumented Immigrants Reduce Crime and Create Jobs? Evidence from U.S. Districts, 2000–2015" (PDF). UC Davis Law Review. 2018.
27. ^ Orrick, Erin A.; Updegrove, Alexander H.; Piquero, Alex R.; Kovandzic, Tomislav (July 10, 2020). "Disentangling Differences in Homicide Incarceration Rates by Immigration Status: A Comparison in Texas". Crime & Delinquency. 67 (4): 523–550\. doi:10.1177/0011128720940963. ISSN 0011-1287. S2CID 225638897.
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32. ^ a b Shoichet, Catherine E. (February 15, 2024). "Analysis: I asked criminologists about immigration and crime in the US. Their answers may surprise you". CNN. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
33. ^ Hutchinson, Bill (March 22, 2024). "US stats show violent crime dramatically falling, so why is there a rising clash with perception?". ABC News. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
34. ^ Sonnier, Olympia; Haake, Garrett (February 29, 2024). "Trump's claims of a migrant crime wave are not supported by national data". NBC News. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
35. ^ Gomez, Alan. "Mollie Tibbetts murder case: Here are the facts on immigrants committing crimes in US". USA TODAY. Retrieved August 9, 2024. "O'Neil said immigration advocates have not been able to match the Trump administration's rhetoric when framing the immigration debate. She said Trump has been hammering the notion that immigrants are criminals, while Democrats and other immigration supporters have been unable to keep up. As a result, she said the public may associate immigrants with crime, leading to a stereotype that sticks."
36. ^ a b Spagat, Elliot (July 16, 2024). "Donald Trump is the most prominent politician to link immigrants and crime but not the first". AP News. Retrieved August 8, 2024. "Donald Trump has reached the greatest political heights while linking immigration to violent crime, but he's hardly the first American politician to promote the unfounded narrative."
37. ^ Pinho, Faith E. (February 27, 2024). "Immigration rises to top of voters' minds ahead of Super Tuesday, polls find". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 8, 2024. "One of the cornerstones of the MAGA movement, Correa-Cabrera said, is a perception that immigrants bring violence, drugs and insecurity into the United States. Part of the reason, she said, is because many immigrants come to the U.S. to escape violence in their home countries. Still, research has repeatedly debunked the idea that immigrants are more prone to commit violent crime than U.S. citizens."
38. ^ Debusmann Jr, Bernd (April 3, 2024). "Ruby Garcia's family found Trump's comments about her killing 'shocking'". Retrieved August 9, 2024. "Border security, as well as immigration and a perception – not supported by statistics – that it is tied to violent crime, are common features of Mr Trump's rallies and campaign speeches."
39. ^ "America's puzzling moral ambivalence about Middle East refugees". Brookings Institution. June 28, 2016. Archived from the original on January 28, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
40. ^ Harris, Casey T; Gruenewald, Jeff (August 8, 2019). "News Media Trends in the Framing of Immigration and Crime, 1990–2013". Social Problems. doi:10.1093/socpro/spz024. ISSN 0037-7791.
41. ^ Farris, Emily M.; Silber Mohamed, Heather (2018). "Picturing immigration: how the media criminalizes immigrants". Politics, Groups, and Identities. 6 (4): 814–824\. doi:10.1080/21565503.2018.1484375. S2CID 158047679.
42. ^ Figueroa-Caballero, Andrea; Mastro, Dana (January 2, 2019). "Examining the effects of news coverage linking undocumented immigrants with criminality: Policy and punitive implications". Communication Monographs. 86 (1): 46–67\. doi:10.1080/03637751.2018.1505049. ISSN 0363-7751.
43. ^ Połońska-Kimunguyi, Ewa (January 6, 2022). "Echoes of Empire: racism and historical amnesia in the British media coverage of migration". Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 9 (1): 1–13\. doi:10.1057/s41599-021-01020-4. ISSN 2662-9992.
44. ^ Adida, Claire L.; Laitin, David D.; Valfort, Marie-Anne (February 1, 2017). "The Wrong Way to Stop Terrorism". Foreign Affairs. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
45. ^ a b Gould, Eric D.; Klor, Esteban F. (July 1, 2015). "The Long-run Effect of 9/11: Terrorism, Backlash, and the Assimilation of Muslim Immigrants in the West". The Economic Journal. 126 (597): 2064–2114\. doi:10.1111/ecoj.12219. hdl:10.1111/ecoj.12219. ISSN 1468-0297. S2CID 55809315.
46. ^ Unnever, James D.; Cullen, Francis T. (November 1, 2012). "White Perceptions of Whether African Americans and Hispanics are Prone to Violence and Support for the Death Penalty". Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. 49 (4): 519–544\. doi:10.1177/0022427811415533. ISSN 0022-4278. S2CID 146774838.
47. ^ Moehling, Carolyn; Piehl, Anne Morrison (November 1, 2009). "Immigration, crime, and incarceration in early twentieth-century america". Demography. 46 (4): 739–763\. doi:10.1353/dem.0.0076. ISSN 0070-3370. PMC 2831353. PMID 20084827.
48. ^ "Open Collections Program: Immigration to the US, Dillingham Commission (1907–1910)". Archived from the original on January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
49. ^ "8 U.S. Code § 1227 – Deportable aliens". LII / Legal Information Institute.
50. ^ Miles, Thomas J.; Cox, Adam B. (October 21, 2015). "Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities". The Journal of Law and Economics. 57 (4): 937–973\. doi:10.1086/680935. S2CID 8406495.
51. ^ Baker, Scott R. (2015). "Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime". American Economic Review. 105 (5): 210–213\. doi:10.1257/aer.p20151041.
52. ^ a b Collingwood, Loren; Gonzalez-O'Brien, Benjamin; El-Khatib, Stephen (October 3, 2016). "Sanctuary cities do not experience an increase in crime". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
53. ^ a b Littlefield, Christina (July 24, 2015). "Sanctuary cities: How Kathryn Steinle's death intensified the immigration debate". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
54. ^ Mejia, Brittany (January 3, 2019). "In California's Red Counties, Sheriffs Decry Sanctuary Laws After Crime Spree, Cop Killing". Governing. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
55. ^ Martínez, Daniel E.; Martínez-Schuldt, Ricardo D.; Cantor, Guillermo (2017). "Providing Sanctuary or Fostering Crime? A Review of the Research on "Sanctuary Cities" and Crime". Sociology Compass. 12: e12547. doi:10.1111/soc4.12547. ISSN 1751-9020.
56. ^ CARMEN GEORGE (December 19, 2018). "Tulare County sheriff after rampage: Laws should be changed to better communicate with ICE". Fresno Bee. Retrieved January 23, 2019. "Garcia-Ruiz has a known criminal past. The sheriff's office said he received a one-year jail sentence and 36 months probation in 2003, after facing criminal charges in 2002, including armed robbery in Fresno, and assault with a deadly weapon in Reedley."
57. ^ Farzan, Antonia Noori (December 20, 2018). "After a shooting suspect's 'reign of terror,' a California sheriff blames the state's sanctuary law". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
58. ^ a b Mariel Garza (April 14, 2008). "Bratton: Special Order 40 not going anywhere". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on October 14, 2008.
59. ^ Blankstein, Andrew; Winton, Richard (April 9, 2008). "Ask and deport, family urges; Their son's alleged killer, in the U.S. illegally, was let out of jail onto the streets". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 422206086.
60. ^ Steinhauer, Jennifer (May 15, 2008). "Immigration and Gang Violence Propel Crusade". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
61. ^ Kim, Victoria (May 10, 2012). "Gang member convicted of murdering Los Angeles High football star". Los Angeles Times.
62. ^ Lowery, Wesley (November 2, 2012). "Gang member sentenced to die in star athlete's killing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
63. ^ Willon, Phil (December 12, 2008). "'Jamiel's Law' misses ballot". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
64. ^ a b Archibold, Randal (June 19, 2010). "On Border Violence, Truth Pales Compared to Ideas". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
65. ^ a b Svitek, Patrick (May 7, 2017). "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs "Sanctuary Cities" Bill into Law". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
66. ^ Mansoor, Sanya; Pollock, Cassandra (May 8, 2017). "Everything You Need to Know About Texas' "Sanctuary Cities" Law". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
67. ^ Green, David (May 1, 2016). "The Trump Hypothesis: Testing Immigrant Populations as a Determinant of Violent and Drug-Related Crime in the United States". Social Science Quarterly. 97 (3): 506–524\. doi:10.1111/ssqu.12300. ISSN 1540-6237.
68. ^ Yee, Vivian (June 25, 2017). "For Grieving Parents, Trump Is 'Speaking for the Dead' on Immigration". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
69. ^ Richardson, Bradford (August 31, 2015). "Trump rips Bush over 'act of love' remarks on illegal immigration". The Hill. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
70. ^ Warren, Michael (August 31, 2015). "Trump Hits Jeb on 'Act of Love'". The Weekly Standard. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
71. ^ Saddiqui, Sabina (February 21, 2016). "Fall of the House of Bush". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 19, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
72. ^ a b c Tanfani, Joseph; Lange, Jason; Stein, Letitia (October 26, 2018). "Special Report: How Republicans are using immigration to scare voters to the polls". Reuters. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
73. ^ McKnight, Michael (May 2, 2017). "How the murder of a high school football star became a rallying cry on Trump's campaign trail". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
74. ^ Thomas, Craig (February 15, 2019). "KOLD INVESTIGATES: Is MS-13 a problem in southern Arizona?". KOLD-TV. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
75. ^ Rizzo, Salvador (January 7, 2019). "The Trump administration's misleading spin on immigration, crime and terrorism". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 17, 2019.
76. ^ Sullum, Jacob (July 24, 2024). "Promising to restore 'Law and Order,' Trump falsely claims crime is rising". Reason.com. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
77. ^ Lutz, Eric (February 15, 2024). "Chris Murphy Says Republicans Are "Allergic to Solving" Border". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
78. ^ "US House fails to impeach Biden's immigration chief over border crisis". France 24. February 7, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
79. ^ Drezner, Daniel W. (October 28, 2021). "Perspective | The mediocre conservative argument for a grand bargain on immigration, revisited". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
80. ^ Shoichet, Catherine E. (February 15, 2024). "Analysis: I asked criminologists about immigration and crime in the US. Their answers may surprise you". CNN. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
81. ^ Hutchinson, Bill (March 22, 2024). "US stats show violent crime dramatically falling, so why is there a rising clash with perception?". ABC News. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
82. ^ Sonnier, Olympia; Haake, Garrett (February 29, 2024). "Trump's claims of a migrant crime wave are not supported by national data". NBC News. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
83. ^ Gomez, Alan. "Mollie Tibbetts murder case: Here are the facts on immigrants committing crimes in US". USA TODAY. Retrieved August 9, 2024. "O'Neil said immigration advocates have not been able to match the Trump administration's rhetoric when framing the immigration debate. She said Trump has been hammering the notion that immigrants are criminals, while Democrats and other immigration supporters have been unable to keep up. As a result, she said the public may associate immigrants with crime, leading to a stereotype that sticks."
84. ^ Spagat, Elliot (July 16, 2024). "Donald Trump is the most prominent politician to link immigrants and crime but not the first". AP News. Retrieved August 8, 2024. "Donald Trump has reached the greatest political heights while linking immigration to violent crime, but he's hardly the first American politician to promote the unfounded narrative."
85. ^ Pinho, Faith E. (February 27, 2024). "Immigration rises to top of voters' minds ahead of Super Tuesday, polls find". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 8, 2024. "One of the cornerstones of the MAGA movement, Correa-Cabrera said, is a perception that immigrants bring violence, drugs and insecurity into the United States. Part of the reason, she said, is because many immigrants come to the U.S. to escape violence in their home countries. Still, research has repeatedly debunked the idea that immigrants are more prone to commit violent crime than U.S. citizens."
86. ^ Debusmann Jr, Bernd (April 3, 2024). "Ruby Garcia's family found Trump's comments about her killing 'shocking'". Retrieved August 9, 2024. "Border security, as well as immigration and a perception – not supported by statistics – that it is tied to violent crime, are common features of Mr Trump's rallies and campaign speeches."

## Further reading

[edit]

* "Trump says migrants are fueling violent crime. Here is what the research shows" (July 16, 2024) by Reuters
* "Immigration and crime: What does the research say?" (February 1, 2017) on The Conversation

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