Right-wing politicians and media outlets have spent years fearmongering about crime committed by poor, working migrants, using isolated incidents to push racist narratives—but the data overwhelmingly shows that migrants commit fewer crimes than native-born populations.
A 2020 study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) examined crime rates in Texas and found that undocumented immigrants were 40% less likely to be arrested for violent crimes than U.S.-born citizens, and documented immigrants had even lower arrest rates.
Another study from the Cato Institute in 2018 found that in Texas, the conviction rate for undocumented immigrants was 50% lower than for native-born Americans, while documented immigrants had a conviction rate 66% lower than that of native-born Americans.
And this data makes sense: immigrants—both those here with documentation and those without—are desperate not to be sent back to where they came from. Getting arrested is one of the surest ways to get deported.
These studies mirror findings from other countries: a 2019 report from the German Federal Criminal Police Office found that refugees in Germany were less likely to commit crimes than native Germans, contradicting the anti-immigrant hysteria fueled by right-wing politicians in Europe.
Despite these facts, conservative media outlets continue to sensationalize crimes committed by migrants, often omitting broader context or cherry-picking cases to reinforce xenophobic narratives.
This manufactured panic serves a political purpose: by blaming immigrants for crime, right-wing politicians distract the public from real sources of social instability, such as wealth inequality, lack of healthcare, and corporate exploitation.
The real cause of crime
Historically, crime waves have been tied to economic instability, not immigration—yet the ruling class has long used racism and xenophobia to pit the working class against itself rather than against the economic policies that keep wages low and living conditions precarious.
While right-wing figures claim to care about public safety, their policies—such as mass deportations, border militarization, and prison expansion—do nothing to reduce crime and instead exacerbate human suffering while enriching private contractors and security firms.
The real threat to safety isn’t immigration but the policies of those who scapegoat immigrants to divide and control the working class while gutting social programs, cutting wages, and protecting corporate interests.
If conservative politicians and media figures actually cared about reducing crime, they would be pushing for policies that address poverty, education, and inequality—issues that are far more predictive of crime rates than immigration status.
