Illegal Immigrants Commit More Crimes Than the General Population
By M Dowling
Despite all the evidence to the contrary, by a 41.6%-to-33.3%, likely voters disagree that illegals are more likely to commit crime. The media lies to them on this issue 24/7.
Democrats oppose deporting illegal immigrants, even if they are criminals. One way they convince Americans it is a rational idea is to falsely claim they commit fewer crimes.
“Immigrants commit crimes in this country at a rate lower than natural-born citizens,” added Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy “So, if you want a safe town or a safe neighborhood, you are better off if you have immigrants.”
Speaking on the Senate floor last year, Murphy added, “Whether you choose to want to believe the facts or not, that is not my decision, it’s your decision, but…but it is the truth.”
Murphy is conflating illegal and legal immigrants. Legal immigrants tend to commit fewer crimes than the general population. It’s not true of those who come illegally.
The legacy media parrots the lie.
A McLaughlin & Associates survey commissioned by the Crime Prevention Research Center on April 29, 2025, reveals that 41.6% of voters believe illegal immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S. citizens, compared to 33.3% who think otherwise.
It’s not true.
These claims usually conflate legal and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants tend to follow the law, but illegal immigrants are a different story.
As to the claim crime is falling despite a flood of illegals, it depends on whether one looks at just crimes reported to police (the FBI data) or total crime as measured by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. Total crime rose markedly in 2021, 2022, and 2023 (the last year it was available). This surge coincided with a massive flood of illegals. The increases shown for total crime during the Biden-Harris administration are by far the largest percentage increases over any other three-year period, more than doubling the previous record.
One big problem is that the government databases are a mess in identifying illegal aliens. You can see this in terms of errors in the NICS background checks that are supposed to stop people with criminal records and also non-U.S. citizens from buying guns.
There is more direct data linking illegals to crime. Just last year, the Biden administration admitted that 9% of the so-called “non-detained” illegals who were released into the U.S. had criminal backgrounds (662,566 out of 7.4 million released). The problem is that these were overwhelmingly those who had voluntarily turned themselves in at the border. It doesn’t count gotaways.
A prior Maricopa County Attorney’s Office study revealed that illegal immigrants committed 21.8% of felonies sentenced in Maricopa County Superior Court, over twice their proportion of Arizona’s population. Mexican nationals alone accounted for 13% of inmates in the state prison system.