Non-Citizens Committed a Disproportionate Share of Federal Crimes, 2011-16

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Center for Immigration Studies analysis of U.S. Sentencing Commission data showing that of those convicted of federal crimes between 2011 and 2016, 44.2 percent were not U.S. citizens. If immigration crimes are excluded, 21 percent of convicts were not U.S. citizens – 2.5 times the non-citizen share of the population.

Dr. Steven Camarota, the Center's director of research and author of the analysis, said "These new numbers show that, at least at the federal level, non-citizens are more likely to commit crimes than citizens. Of course, it is hard to speak unequivocally about immigrant crime in general as states and localities do not systematically track the country of birth, citizenship, or legal status of those they arrest, convict, or incarcerate."

View the entire analysis at: https://cis.org/Camarota/NonCitizens-Committed-Disproportionate-Share-Federal-Crimes-201116

Most law enforcement occurs at the state and local level and it is not reasonable to simply extrapolate about immigrant criminality generally from the federal data. Nonetheless, federal law enforcement is still enormous, with 312,000 people (67,000 of them non-citizens, both legal and illegal) sentenced in the federal courts between 2011 and 2016, excluding immigration violations. And in the federal system, where we do have good data, non-citizens account for a disproportionate share of those who are sentenced for many different types of non-immigration crimes.

Additionally, because it is often easier to make an immigration case, federal prosecutors sometimes charge illegal immigrants only with immigration violations, even when they have committed serious non-immigration crimes. Once convicted, an immigrant will still normally serve some time and then be deported, which is often seen by prosecutors as good enough. This, of course, does not happen with citizens. But because of this, conviction data for non-immigration crimes will tend to understate the level of criminal activity among non-citizens.

Among the findings of the new data:

Areas where non-citizens account for a much larger share of convictions than their 8.4 percent share of the adult population include:

• 42.4 percent of kidnapping convictions;
• 31.5 percent of drug convictions;
• 22.9 percent of money laundering convictions;
• 13.4 percent of administration of justice offenses (e.g. witness tampering, obstruction, and contempt);
• 17.8 percent of economic crimes (e.g. larceny, embezzlement, and fraud);
• 13 percent of other convictions (e.g. bribery, civil rights, environmental, and prison offenses); and
• 12.8 percent of auto thefts.

Contact: Marguerite Telford
202-466-8185, [email protected]

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies

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