How do immigrant crime rates compare with those of U.S.-born citizens?
Confidence as of August 3, 2026
4 claims3 open questions
Our take
Available data shows that immigrants have lower overall crime rates than U.S.-born citizens. That is not a claim that immigrants never commit crimes at any level.
Why we say this
Criminology, 2018
State-level data from 1990–2014 associated undocumented immigration with decreases in violent crime, not increases.
PNAS, 2020
Texas arrest records showed lower felony arrest rates among undocumented immigrants than among native-born citizens.
CBP
Border Patrol still records arrests of noncitizens with prior convictions for serious crimes, including homicide.
This is not a claim of absolute truth. Read the whole story for more context.
as of August 3, 2026
This story tracks the evidence comparing criminal offending and incarceration rates among immigrants and U.S.-born Americans. The evidence includes peer-reviewed research, government crime statistics, census data, and official analyses. Because "crime rate" can refer to arrests, convictions, incarceration, self-reported crime, or victimization — and because immigrants include both lawful and unauthorized immigrants — claims are evaluated separately where possible.
Where things stand
The overall evidence base has become relatively consistent over the past two decades. Numerous peer-reviewed studies using different datasets have found that immigrants, on average, are arrested, incarcerated, or convicted at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens. However, estimates vary depending on the population studied, crime type, geographic area, and methodology. Data on unauthorized immigrants are more difficult to measure because immigration status is not recorded uniformly across criminal justice datasets.
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Confidence
as of August 3, 2026Multiple independent peer-reviewed studies using census records, criminal justice data, and state administrative records have consistently found lower overall offending or incarceration rates among immigrants than among U.S.-born citizens. This finding has been replicated using different methodologies and data sources. Importantly, lower average crime rates do not mean immigrants never commit serious crimes, nor do they imply that every immigrant subgroup has identical crime rates. Likewise, isolated high-profile crimes do not establish population-wide offending rates.
This is our best read given the published evidence we have reviewed — not a claim of absolute truth.
Open questions
How accurately can unauthorized immigrant crime rates be measured nationwide?
Immigration status is not consistently recorded in federal crime databases.
How do crime rates differ across immigrant generations?
Some research suggests first-generation and later-generation immigrants have different offending patterns.
How do socioeconomic factors explain observed differences?
Researchers continue to study the relative contributions of age, income, education, and community characteristics.
What would change our mind
- Large nationally representative datasets consistently demonstrating higher offending rates among immigrants after controlling for demographic differences.
- Independent peer-reviewed studies replicating substantially different findings across multiple jurisdictions.
- Improved nationwide datasets directly measuring immigration status alongside criminal convictions.
Timeline — How we got here
6 updates · append-onlyStable for nowEvidence base remains consistent; nationwide unauthorized-status measurement still limited
Multiple independent studies and Texas administrative analyses continue to find lower average offending or conviction rates among immigrants than among U.S.-born citizens. Absolute claims that immigrants never commit serious crimes remain contradicted by enforcement statistics. Open questions persist around nationwide measurement of unauthorized immigrant crime rates and differences across immigrant generations.
Claims & evidence
Each claim is tracked separately — not a single verdict.Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that immigrants have lower overall crime rates than U.S.-born Americans.
Evidence basis- March 25, 2018Does Undocumented Immigration Increase Violent Crime?
Peer-reviewed longitudinal study of U.S. states from 1990–2014 finding that undocumented immigration is generally associated with decreases in violent crime, not increases.
- September 21, 2015The Integration of Immigrants into American Society
Consensus report summarizing evidence that immigrants are generally less involved in crime than native-born Americans.
Texas administrative data have shown lower criminal conviction rates among both legal and unauthorized immigrants than among native-born citizens.
Evidence basis- December 7, 2020Comparing crime rates between undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, and native-born US citizens in Texas
Peer-reviewed study using Texas Department of Public Safety arrest records reporting lower felony arrest rates among undocumented immigrants than among native-born citizens.
- June 26, 2024Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022
Policy analysis of Texas DPS conviction data for 2013–2022 reporting lower homicide and overall criminal conviction rates among illegal and legal immigrants than among native-born Americans.
Immigrants do not commit serious violent crimes.
Evidence basis- Criminal Alien Statistics
Border Patrol statistics record arrests of noncitizens with prior convictions for serious crimes, including homicide and manslaughter. These are raw encounter-based counts among noncitizens interdicted by Border Patrol, not population crime rates.
Immigrants have higher violent crime rates than U.S.-born Americans.
Evidence basis- The Integration of Immigrants into American Society
The available evidence reviewed does not establish this general population-wide claim.
What this doesn’t establish
Claims commonly associated with this story that the available evidence does not establish. Confirming a narrow fact here is not confirmation of the broader narrative around it. As such, these claims are not included in the claims bar above.
Because immigrants have lower average crime rates, immigration cannot create any public safety concerns.
Evidence basis- The Integration of Immigrants into American Society
Population averages do not determine the public safety implications of individual cases or local circumstances.
High-profile crimes committed by immigrants establish that immigrants have higher crime rates overall.
Evidence basis- Comparing crime rates between undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, and native-born US citizens in Texas
Population crime rates require representative datasets rather than individual cases.
- The Integration of Immigrants into American Society
"...literature has produced a fairly robust finding in criminology: areas, and especially neighborhoods, with greater concentrations of immigrants have lower rates of crime and violence, all else being equal."
Help improve this story
Point us at a source, a mistake, or a framing problem. Every submission is reviewed by a human before anything changes — this is not a vote on what’s true.
Confidence last reviewed August 3, 2026. Updates are append-only; nothing here is edited silently.
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