In this concise explainer, Lorena Rivas, Esq. confronts common misconceptions about immigration and crime by presenting a series of data points. She begins with public opinion—47 % of Americans think immigrants increase crime while only 5 % think they reduce it. She then compares incarceration rates for people born in 1990, showing that by age 33, 11 % of U.S.-born individuals have been imprisoned versus just 3 % of immigrants. The narrative shifts to victimization: between 2017 and 2023, immigrants were 44 % less likely to be victims of violent crime, and when they were victimized they called the police more often than native‑born victims. Finally, she highlights that immigrant cooperation helped police solve 5.1 million crimes over seven years. The speaker emphasizes that multiple researchers across different decades have arrived at the same conclusion—that immigrants are less associated with crime and actually aid law‑enforcement.
