RIGHT SPEAK: CATO: Illegal Immigrants More Likely to Commit Crimes than Ones Who Came Legally

File Photo: Bob Price/Breitbart Texas

A report by the Cato Institute released on February 26 reveals that illegal immigrants are much more likely to commit violent crimes than immigrants who follow the law to get here. Cato primarily provides written analysis on the portion of the report showing illegal immigrants less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

The report by the Cato Institutes’ Alex Nowrasteh attempts to debunk the positions of President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security that illegal immigrants are a “significant source of crime.” To do so, the writer analyzed reports from the Texas Department of Public Safety and looked at crime statistics for native-born Americans, legal immigrants, and illegal immigrants.

Cato chose Texas because the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) cooperates with immigration officials and therefore has more accurate breakdowns of crimes and arrests by immigration/citizenship status, the report states. While the report seeks to paint a picture that illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans, it also shows that people who come to the U.S. by illegally entering the country in violation of laws are much more likely to commit additional crimes than people who immigrate here by following the law.