Commentary:
By: Jose Apolinar Olivera
Few issues spark as much anger and propaganda as the issue of immigration reform. Unlike many other issues, views on immigration reform do not fall neatly into party lines or even racial lines.
Regardless of one’s view on the issue, we can agree that the debate around immigration reform should be based on fact, not fiction.
One fiction in the immigration reform debate is the myth that immigrants increase crime rates. This myth claims that hoards of criminal aliens are entering our country, especially from Mexico, and committing crimes involving drugs, prostitution, and even murder. Like the Boogeyman myth, this myth about the prevalence of the “criminal alien” is meant to frighten. It attempts to scare us into believing that a host of Pablo Escobares are moving into our neighborhoods. The fact is that it is nothing more than propaganda.
The facts show that immigrants do not increase crime rates. In 2005, the Immigration Policy Center (“IPC”) issued a report that stated crime rates for immigrants are lower than those for native-born Americans. Similarly, the Public Policy Institute of California (“PPIC”) found that immigrants are considerably less likely than the U.S.-born to be in California prisons or jails.
Both the IPC and PPIC conducted a study where they found that of the men incarcerated from ages 18-39, the native-born incarceration rate was 3.5 percent, 5 times more that the .7 percent immigrant incarceration rate. In California, the IPC found that of the men incarcerated from ages 18-39, native-born men had an incarceration rate of 4.5 percent, 11 times greater than the 0.4 percent immigrant incarceration rate.
What if we isolate Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadorian immigrants? These immigrants too are less likely than native-born Americans to be incarcerated. Immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador account for the majority of unauthorized immigrants in the United States, yet according to the IPC, Mexican immigrants have only a 0.7 percent incarceration rate, and Guatemalan and Salvadorian immigrants each have only a 0.5 percent incarceration rate.
What about unauthorized immigrants? Well, from 1994-2005, the unauthorized immigrant population doubled to approximately 12 million in size. Even with this increase, the U.S. violent crime rate fell by 34.2 percent and the property crime rate fell by 26.4 percent. This drop in crime rate was not only national, it also occurred in areas near the border with large immigrant populations such as Los Angeles and San Diego.
There are immigrants, both authorized and unauthorized, who do commit serious crimes, but their prevalence among the immigrant community has been greatly exaggerated. Immigration reform opponents have shouted this “criminal alien” myth through every medium possible and have been successful in hindering the mending of our broken immigration system. However, simply because they shout this myth, does not make it so. Look at the facts yourselves and you will see the truth, that immigrants do not increase crime rates in our country.