Legal Commentary

Immigration and Crime: Myth v. Reality

By TChris

Immigrants in general, and undocumented immigrants in particular, are less likely to commit serious crime than native-born citizens, according to a report (pdf) released yesterday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

"Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It?" ... aims to dispel the perception that cities with large foreign-born populations are criminal hot beds, with several California cities showing a dip in police activity amid recent immigration waves.

The findings won't play well with those who prefer stereotypes to reality, but they make sense. As explained by Kristen Butcher, one of the report's authors:

"The type of people who are immigrating are less likely to commit crimes because they're here for jobs," said Butcher, a professor at Wellesley College and a fellow for the nonpartisan policy research group.

Salvador Bustamante explains why reality-based thinking about immigration is important: [more...]

"A lot of people have painted immigrants as the criminal element in our society, and that isn't the case," said Bustamante, Northern California director of Strengthening Our Lives, a statewide nonprofit group that works to empower immigrants.

He said immigrants come to the United States to work, often trying to stay under the radar of authorities and away from criminal activity to avoid deportation.

"The more we can do to dispel the myths that have been created about immigrants will help with immigrant rights and immigration reform," he said.

As the report concludes, good policy-making requires good information, not pandering to sterotypes:

Taken together, our findings suggest that spending additional dollars to reduce immigration or to increase enforcement against the foreign-born will not have a high return in terms of public safety. The foreign-born in California already have extremely low rates of criminal activity.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 26, 2008 (boomark / email).