Illegal Immigration & US Crime Rates - Research Paper

Introduction

The topic under study is "Do Illegal Immigrants Contribute to US Crime Rates more than Citizens?" The named topic belongs to the public policy and administration subfield of Political Science. Public administration entails the implementation process of the government policies while public policy concentrates on the description of the causes and implications of the activities of the government. Public administration is also defined as 'government in action.'

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One Current Political Issue

The construction of the border wall between the United States and Mexico is one political issue that has a direct connection to the topic of study. President Donald Trump built the wall as a measure of preventing illegal immigration to the country1. When the president was campaigning, he made a promise to the American citizens that he would build a wall to separate Mexico from the United States, as a measure of preventing people from entering the United States illegally. This promise earned him many supporters because even the citizens believe that illegal immigrants are the major crime committers in America. Before he became the president, Donald Trump had stated that he would make the Mexican government pay for the wall. However, as time passed, it was evident that Mexico would not pay for the construction of the wall. This turn of even forced President Donald Trump to request for funding from the American government2. The Democrats had strongly opposed the building of the wall and since they are the majority in the congress, the bill could not pass. This political issue shows that one side of the government believes that illegal immigrants are criminals, while the other section does not believe so.

The political issue has a notable connection with the topic of study. However, it already presumes that illegal immigrants cause an increase in crime rates, yet it is a theory that has not been tested.

One Event Relating to the Topic Under Study

A major event that directly relates to the topic of study is the deportation of illegal immigrants. An article written by BBC NEWS on the 23rd of July 2019 states that the United States government had embarked on deporting illegal immigrants without going to court. The new rule stated that migrants who could not prove that they have been living in the United States for a period of two years were eligible for immediate deportation. The article has made an analysis of the number of illegal immigrants to the country since 20023. It is evident that the number has reduced during Trump's administration.

The graph below indicates that in 2002, the number of illegal immigrants was 1,600,000. In 2018, the number had gone down to 400,0004. From the strict measures put in place by the government such as the deportation of illegal immigrants, it is evident that the Trump administration blames the rising crimes on illegal immigrants. The study is however yet to prove this notion by the American government.

(Source: BBC News (2019) )Main Research Question

The research question that the paper proposes to answer is whether illegal immigrants contribute towards an increase in crime rates more than the American citizens.

Scholarly Research

A report featured by the Pew Research Center shows that the United States is the country with the largest number of immigrants, compared to other countries in the world5. According to the estimates of the report, the United States hosts more than 40 million immigrants. This population of immigrants is very diverse such that, every country in the world has a representation among the immigrants. The report provides a statistical analysis of the immigrants and shows that by the time of the research, which was in 2019, immigrants accounted for 13.6% of the total US population. This percentage is almost a triple of the number recorded in 1970, which was 4.7%6. The graph below shows a representation of the percentages of the American illegal immigrants since 1850 to 2017.

(Source: Pew Research Center, 2019)

The increase in the number of immigrants is directly proportional to the increase of crime rates in the US and that is why the illegal immigrants carry the whole blame of the crimes committed in the US. According to the report by Pew Research Center, an illegal immigrant is anyone who crosses the United States border, without the legal documents such as passports, visas, among other requirements.

It is essential to note that crossing the border illegally is a crime. This means that the fact that someone has crossed the border illegally is already an evidence to the argument that illegal immigrants contribute to the rise in crime rates. All illegal immigrants already have a criminal act record.

Another report published by City Lab examined the correlation between illegal immigrants and crime rates. The report asserted that most illegal immigrants do not go to the United States with the aim of committing a crime. They migrate to the US with the aim of seeking economic refuge. The report argues that people have been migrating to the US since the 1800s. However, out of the 45 presidents, it is only president Trump who accused the immigrants of the crime committed in the US7. The 44 predecessors of Trump rarely used the immigration-related words. The presidents understood that most illegal immigrants came from poor countries and they migrated to the US to seek employment.

Illegal immigrants have been a major issue for the Trump administration and this can be seen from the measures put in place like the building of the Mexican-US wall and the deportation of illegal immigrants. The graph below is an indication of the use of immigration-related words by American presidents since 1800.

The graph shows that President Trump has used the immigration-related words the most times, compared to all presidents who have been in power since 18008. This raises questions on the relationship between illegal immigrants and crime. The previous presidents did not have a major issue with the illegal immigrants because they did not relate them to the rising crime rates9. This leaves Donald Trump as the only president who connects illegal immigrants to rising crime rates.

(Source: City Lab, 2019)

The idea that illegal immigrants make a major contribution to the rising crime rates in America is an unfair generalization. Misra (2019) refers to this as crimmigration. The report by City Lab also notes that more studies have to be conducted in order to prove or disprove the theory that illegal immigrants contribute to crime rates more than the US citizens.

Blaming the rising crime rates on illegal immigrants is like using them as scapegoats. No one has provided reliable evidence that the immigrants commit more crimes when compared to the legal citizens. Therefore, it would be unfair for the president to make such an assumption and take major precautions like their immediate deportation.

The Cato Institute has also conducted research on the relationship between illegal immigrants and the rising crime rates in the US. The report, which was published on March 4, 2019, states that President Donald Trump has always had an issue with the illegal immigrants10. During his campaign in 2015, he stated that the "Mexican illegal immigrants" bring in drugs, they are rapists and they bring crimes.

However, the report identifies that it is difficult to know whether illegal immigrants commit more crimes than natives. According to the findings, all immigrants have a low criminal record and there are few crime rates in the areas they live in. Large nationwide federal commissions of immigration have been asked whether the immigrants are more prone to committing crimes when compared to the natives, and all of them said no. This contradicts claims by other reports which blame the immigrants for every crime committed in the US11. Three immigration commissions which have stated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes when compared to the natives.

These immigration commissions are Dillingham Commission, also known as the 1911 Immigration Commission, the 1931 Wickersham Commission and the 1994 Barbara Jordan Commission12. Most people seem to agree with the immigration commissions.

Measuring the crime rates associated with illegal immigrants is challenging due to different reasons. The first challenge is that the American Community does no inquire about which inmate is an illegal immigrant in the different correctional facilities. Secondly, the federal data on the population of illegal immigrants imprisoned at the local and state level has been recorded by the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)13. This is an amalgamation of flows and stocks and it is incomparable to other measures of prisoners. Lastly, about 49 states in the US do not keep a record of the immigration statuses of prisoners and the people who have been convicted. The limitations of data have allowed people to make assumptions and allegations about illegal immigrants because there is no fact-checking basis.

SCAAP shows that illegal immigrants have a low imprisonment rate when compared to Native Americans. The research goes back from 1955 and it states that illegal immigrants are less likely to get arrested. In 2016, there was a total of 17,785 murder convictions and out of those, only 85 of them were committed by illegal immigrants14. This number is less than 0.5 percent of the total crime offenders.

Scholars from the Cato Institute stated that an increase in the number of illegal immigrants does not increase the crime rate. The two scholars, Ty Miller and Michael Light, later joined Bryan Kelly, who is a sociologist from Purdue, in conducting research on the same15. Their research entailed comparing the illegal immigrant population with DUI arrests, drug overdose deaths, and drug arrests. Their research found out that there was no significant relationship between increased illegal immigration with the drug overdose arrests, drug arrests, and DUI deaths.

Implications and Consequences

From the balance of politics and resources, the likely outcome for the issue is that illegal immigrants do not contribute to the US crime rates more than the Native Americans do. This implication is based on previous scholarly research. No one has been able to provide a piece of solid evidence that connects the illegal immigrants to the rise of crime rates in the US. The accusations made towards the illegal immigrants are baseless and the measures put in place by the Trump administration are unfair.

Some of the illegal immigrants have been linked to some crimes but the total number of native Americans who commit a crime is bigger than that of the illegal immigrants. Measures put in place like immediate deportation are inhumane because the majority of the illegal immigrants move from their countries in search of economic refuge. The illegal immigrants can be blamed on other things like contributing to the overpopulation of the US which results in a strain of resources for the natives. However, they should not be blamed on causing an increase in the number of crimes in America.

The consequence of this implication is that the research will serve as an eye-opener to the American citizens who believed that illegal immigrants contributed to the increase in crime rates. The American government should be conducting thorough research on the connection between illegal immigrants and crime, so as to provide the citizens with factual information.

Notes

1. Choi, D. Trump plans to take more money from the military to pay for the border wall - here's what could get cut. (2020) Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-pay-for-border-wall-military-f...