Study finds no link between undocumented immigration and U.S. crime rates

A large-scale study published in the Journal of Urban Affairs indicates that undocumented immigration is not a driver of increased crime rates in American neighborhoods. Led by Charis E. Kubrin of the University of California, Irvine, and co-authored by researchers from Stanford University, the University of Akron, and UC Irvine, the research analyzed 11,500 neighborhoods representing 46 million residents across various U.S. cities between 2010 and 2018.

The findings show that neighborhoods with a growing share of undocumented residents actually experienced greater reductions in property crimes and saw no significant changes in violent crime rates. The researchers noted that this empirical evidence challenges long-standing public perceptions, a phenomenon they compared to the 1930s Wickersham Commission report which also found lower crime involvement among immigrants than native-born citizens.