Facts Trump's statements: illegal immigrants and crime in numbers

US President Donald Trump, speaking on Monday in New Orleans (Louisiana), spoke about tens of thousands of crimes that, he said, were committed by illegal immigrants. He made these statements as part of an effort to support the construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, justifying its need for protection from criminals.

He repeated this statement during his speech on Tuesday. ABC News.

“Over the past two years, ICE officers have made 266 arrests of aliens with criminal histories, including those charged or convicted of 000 assaults, 100 sex crimes, and 000 murders. Over the years, thousands of Americans have been brutally murdered by those who entered our country illegally, and thousands more will die if we do not act now,” Trump said.

But there is no national database in the United States that compares crime rates based on the immigration status of the people who commit them. In fact, only one state—Texas—keeps similar statistics. The lack of a national database that tracks crimes committed by natural-born U.S. citizens and legal or illegal immigrants in the country makes it difficult to confirm or refute the data the president has voiced.

However, available research shows that, in general, the crime rate among different immigrant groups is lower than among Native Americans.

Walter Ewing, editor of the American Immigration Council, an immigrant rights group, puts it this way: “You can find any demographic you like, and it will include murderers. You can look at redheads and blondes, and these groups will include killers. But that’s not the point, it’s what the crime rate is,” he said.

Comparing overall crime rates for different groups is the best way to determine whether a particular group poses a significantly greater threat to society than others.

Alex Novrastech, a senior immigration policy analyst at the Caton Libertarian Institute, points to Texas as an example, as this state records crime data by disaggregating the immigration status of the perpetrators. In this state, the number of convicted and arrested immigrants was significantly lower than the number of convicted and arrested Americans by birth.

Undocumented immigrants make up just over 6% of the state's population, legal immigrants make up more than 10% and native-born Americans make up more than 80%, according to the latest Census and Migration Research Center data.

Meanwhile, illegal immigrants were convicted of 5,9% of all murders in Texas, legal immigrants were convicted of 3,8% of murders, and native-born Americans were convicted of about 90% of all murders in Texas, according to 2015 data.

In other words, native Americans are more likely to commit serious crimes than immigrants.

The president also cited Texas as an example, citing — mostly accurately — numbers from the state Department of Safety. Trump tweeted: “In the great State of Texas, between 2011 and 2018, a total of 292 crimes, 000 murders, 539 assaults, 32 sexual assaults and 000 gun crimes were committed by illegal immigrants.”

The numbers are correct, but context is also important here. Trump made no comparisons with crime rates in other groups, and the numbers the president cited are based on arrests, not convictions. During the President's chosen 8-year period, 238 illegal immigrants were convicted of murder, 13 of assault, 559 of sexual assault, and 1 of gun-related crimes.

When these data are put into the larger picture, illegal immigrants are about half as likely to be incarcerated as U.S.-born individuals, and legal immigrants are about 80 percent less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans.

But where does the president get information about crimes committed in the country by illegal immigrants, if such data are not collected? Although the White House did not specify, the president probably takes figures from data published by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), which summarizes the arrests of immigrants who were transferred to her and then expelled from the country. But the information that Trump uses does not seem to give a clear idea of ​​what year these arrests were made, when the crimes were committed, and combines the charges with convictions, which does not give a clear understanding of the level of crime.

Over the past two years that Trump mentioned, 266 000 arresting illegal immigrants with a criminal past mainly concerned immigrants who were convicted of crimes in the past and in most cases had already served their jail sentence before they were handed over to ICE agents. That is, we are talking about crimes committed many years ago.

According to ICE, over the past two years, about 4 000 arrests of immigrants accused and convicted of murder have been made, they are transferred to ICE for further deportation, but the murders could have been committed at any time, including many years ago.

For comparison, only in 2017 year, according to the FBI, 16 446 people were killed in the United States.

The same obscure time frame applies to the number of attacks indicated by the president, moreover, the figure mentioned by Trap concerns not only convictions, but also those who were detained on suspicion of committing attacks but were not convicted by the court.

As for the president’s allegation of sexual offenses, ICE reports do not mention the arrests of 30 000 people. Even when combining the number from the ICE sexual assault reports with a separate category of sexual crimes, the total number of detainees is about 22 000 people, so the accuracy of this figure is questionable.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Where to immigrate to the USA: how to choose the best state

Immigrants or Americans: who more often commits crimes

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.