Talking Points: Immigration

Migrant Crime

• Every study into the subject has shown that undocumented migrants commit crime at significantly lower rates than both native-born US citizens and documented immigrants [1].

• Undocumented migrants are not smuggling in fentanyl; according to CBP, of all people arrested for illegal crossings, only 0.02% possessed fentanyl in any form [2].

• 90% of everyone convicted of trafficking fentanyl are legal US citizens. 90% of fentanyl seizures happen at legal crossing points or internal checkpoints, not at illegal crossings [2].

• Since 2017, the number of undocumented immigrants convicted of murder per year has never exceeded 100. So far this year there have only been 23 arrests for murder. The Republican claim that immigrants are killing hundreds of thousands of US citizens is ridiculous [3].

Origins and Causes

• From most to least, most illegal immigrants come from Mexico, El Salvador, India, Guatemala, and Honduras – all capitalist countries [4].

• The US government has repeatedly been complicit with or an outright partner to various cartels throughout Latin America [5].

• The United States has repeatedly overthrown or killed leaders who seek to improve living conditions in the region and installed right-wing dictators in their place. This has led to long-lasting instability and poverty that directly contribute to illegal immigration today [6].

• Sanctions and embargoes are one of the leading causes of poverty in certain countries. Notable examples are Venezuela [7] and Cuba [8, 9].

Voting

• Undocumented immigrants do not vote in significant numbers in federal elections. According to the Heritage Foundation (!), between 2003 and 2023, there were only 23 instances of non-citizens voting in federal elections [10].

• Election officials verify a voter’s citizenship status by cross-referencing information provided by the voter with information from the Social Security Administration and the DMV [11].

• Undocumented immigrant populations have not given the Democratic Party an advantage in Federal House seats. According to the 2020 Census, blue states like New York and California lost congressional seats, while red states like Texas and Florida gained seats [12].

Conclusion

Like most right-wing grievances, the issues that conservatives are worried about regarding immigration are either outright lies or misunderstandings. These facts demonstrate that conservatives are all too willing to delegate the formation of their realities to fear mongering media figures and politicians with very little – if any – resistance or verification. 

Sources

1. Sources for this claim include:

   • https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1745-9125.12175

   • https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2024/03/immigrants-are-significantly-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-the-us-born/

   • https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/comparing-crime-rates-between-undocumented-immigrants-legal-immigrants-and

   • https://www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find

2. https://www.cato.org/blog/fentanyl-smuggled-us-citizens-us-citizens-not-asylum-seekers. It is worth noting that the Cato Institute is a right-wing libertarian think tank.

3. https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics/criminal-noncitizen-statistics

4. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/

5. Sources include:

   • https://world.time.com/2014/01/14/dea-boosted-mexican-drug-cartel/

   • https://jacobin.com/2023/03/us-mexico-war-on-drugs-garcia-luna-calderon

   • https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch01p1.htm

6. Sources include:

   • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0176268023000964

   • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America

   • https://www.historyoasis.com/post/us-coups-latin-america

7. https://gppreview.com/2023/07/03/us-sanctions-are-robbing-venezuelans-of-basic-human-rights/

8. https://www.wola.org/analysis/understanding-failure-of-us-cuba-embargo/

9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1380757/

10. https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/search?combine=citizenship&state=All&year=&case_type=All&fraud_type=All&page=0

11. https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/four-things-to-know-about-noncitizen-voting/

12. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/census-briefs/c2020br-01.pdf