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. 2020 Dec 22;117(51):32340-32347.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.2014704117. Epub 2020 Dec 7.

Comparing crime rates between undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, and native-born US citizens in Texas

Michael T Light  1 , Jingying He  2 , Jason P Robey  2
Affiliations

Comparing crime rates between undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, and native-born US citizens in Texas

Michael T Light et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

We make use of uniquely comprehensive arrest data from the Texas Department of Public Safety to compare the criminality of undocumented immigrants to legal immigrants and native-born US citizens between 2012 and 2018. We find that undocumented immigrants have substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens and legal immigrants across a range of felony offenses. Relative to undocumented immigrants, US-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes. In addition, the proportion of arrests involving undocumented immigrants in Texas was relatively stable or decreasing over this period. The differences between US-born citizens and undocumented immigrants are robust to using alternative estimates of the broader undocumented population, alternate classifications of those counted as "undocumented" at arrest and substituting misdemeanors or convictions as measures of crime.

Keywords: crime; undocumented immigration; violence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Felony arrest rates, Texas (2012 to 2018).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Felony arrest rates by detailed measures of violent and property crime, Texas (2012 to 2018).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Trends of total felony crime rates by citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.
Trends of violent crime rates by citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.
Trends of property crime rates by citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.
Fig. 6.
Fig. 6.
Trends of drug crime rates by citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.
Fig. 7.
Fig. 7.
Trends of traffic crime rates by citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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