Open-border advocates claim illegal aliens commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans, but state prison data proves them wrong.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform based its findings on a federal program called the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which reimburses states a small portion of the cost to jail illegal aliens.
“Based on the states' own accounting of the number of criminal aliens and illegal aliens they have in state and local jails and prisons, it turns out they are committing crimes at a much higher rate than their presence in the population generally,” says FAIR spokesman Ira Mehlman.
“In Texas it's about 50 percent higher than the incarceration rate for non-illegal aliens.”
Previous studies omitted data such as drug and fraud offenses like obtaining false social security numbers or drivers’ licenses, using fraudulent green cards, and improperly accessing public benefits.
“It is true that legal immigrants commit crimes at a very low rate,” says Mehlman. “But when you factor out legal immigrants, the amount of criminal activity among illegal immigrants is actually significantly higher than the population in general.”
And he points out the study does not take into account illegal aliens serving time in federal prisons.