Stop spreading myths about immigrants and crime

Dear Editor,

Immigrants have always been an easy target and the United States has a long history of scapegoating ethnic and religious minorities, as well as the poor. Chinese, Irish, Italian, Muslim, Mexican and Japanese immigrants have all been falsely accused of bringing crime into the U.S., particularly during turbulent economic or political times.

The Trump Administration has recycled this age old myth as an immigrant “invasion,” “poisoning” and crime surge. It was rather disturbing to read a column written by the publisher of a local newspaper that promotes these antiimmigrant sentiments and false information ("When a local tragedy demands answers," April 9, Page 18).

Mr. Freeman wrote that the claim that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans is based on only one study out of Texas. This is blatantly false. There are numerous studies that support this claim. Here are just two examples: Northwestern University published a study in July 2023, which found immigrants are significantly less likely to commit crimes than native born citizens. The researchers analyzed incarceration rates and 150 years of U.S. Census data. The data showed that immigrants today are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than folks born in the U.S.

“Our study shows that since 1870, it has never been the case that immigrants as a group have been more incarcerated than the U.S.-born," said Elisa Jácome of Northwestern University.

The American Immigration Council (AIC) compared crime data to demographic data from 1980 to 2022, and found that as the immigrant population grew, the crime rate declined. In 1980, immigrants made up 6.2 percent of the U.S. population, and the total crime rate was 5,900 crimes per 100,000 people. By 2022, immigrants had more than doubled, to 13.9 percent, while the total crime rate had dropped by 60.4 percent, to 2,335 crimes per 100,000 people. The violent crime rate declined by 34.5 percent and the property crime rate fell by 63.3 percent. In addition, the AIC examined the relationship between crime rates and percentage of immigrants in the population between 2017 and 2022, at the state level. FBI crime reporting data and population data from all 50 states, via the U. S. Census Bureau, was analyzed. The results showed no statistically significant correlation between the percentage of immigrants and the total crime rate in any state. This means higher immigrant populations are not associated with higher crime rates.

The violent acts against innocent young women that Mr. Freeman referenced are truly horrific. Unfortunately, in this country, horrific violent acts occur against innocent people every day. They are not being perpetrated any more frequently by immigrants and in fact the data demonstrates that American born citizens perpetrate more violent acts than our immigrant neighbors.

Please stop spreading the false belief that we should fear immigrants; it is untrue and dangerous.

-Jennifer Brennan Francis, South Salem