Four new academic studies claim that illegal immigration does not result in an increase in drug and alcohol problems or violent crime, assertions that contradict those used by the Trump administration to justify their crackdown on undocumented immigrants living in the US.
An increase in undocumented immigrants coming to the US since 1999 has not seen a correlated increase in the amount of violent crime in the same period, according to University of Wisconsin criminologist, Michael Light. The findings have been published in the newest installment of the journal, Criminology. A separate study by the same researchers looking at crimes that did not include violence likewise saw no increase in alcohol and drug arrests, or the amount of DUI deaths or drug overdoses, despite the dramatic increase in undocumented immigrants.
The libertarian Cato Institute has also conducted a different study, looking at criminality among Texas undocumented immigrants. Texas is one of the few states to record the immigration status of those placed under arrest, making it an ideal source of study for criminologists. In 2015, Cato found that the rates of criminal arrest and conviction for serious crimes, such as larceny, murder, and sexual assault were lower for undocumented immigrants than those born in the US.
A research paper in the recent edition of Migration Letters, a journal in the United Kingdom, also found that less crime was engaged in by undocumented immigrants than by those born in the US or by legal immigrants.