The relationship between immigration and crime is a complex and widely debated topic. Some argue that immigration leads to increased criminal activity, suggesting that immigrants might be more likely to engage in unlawful behavior. However, recent research suggests that immigrants, including those without legal status, are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. NIJ funds rigorous, evidence-based research to advance knowledge on the relationship between immigration and crime.
This page provides information on projects, and the resulting reports, funded by NIJ under the fiscal year 2019 and 2020 solicitations on research into immigration and crime.
Tables 1 lists awards and Table 2 lists publications resulting those solicitations.
| Title | Award Number | Award Recipient | Award Amount | Award Status | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Undocumented Immigration, Crime, and Recidivism | 2019-R2-CX-0058 | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM | $ 396,194 | Closed | The goals of this project are to answer these questions: 1) How does the criminality of unauthorized immigrants compare to that of legal residents or to native-born citizens? 2) Does this differ by offense type? 3) How has unauthorized immigrant criminality changed over time, particularly in the wake of stepped-up enforcement under the Trump administration? 4) How often do unauthorized immigrants recidivate? 5) How does criminal sanctioning affect recidivism among the unauthorized? These questions will be addressed by completing three related tasks. First, the applicant plans to examine the criminality of unauthorized immigrants in reference to legal residents and native-born citizens in the state of Texas. Second, the applicant will examine how immigrant criminality has changed over time, particularly amid the expanded enforcement priorities under President Trump (2017-2018). This task will compare data from two states with different immigration enforcement practices and policies, Texas and California. Next, the applicant will describe the recidivism patterns of unauthorized immigrants and the extent to which the recidivism patterns differ by criminal sanction. The sources of data for this study come from two states: 1) Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Computerized Criminal History System (CCH) and 2) California Office of the Criminal Offender Record Information Program (CORI). The CCH dataset, which includes legal status data for arrestees, is able to provide descriptive information on arrest, conviction, recidivism, and the case processing of unauthorized immigrants. CORI provides complete criminal history information for all arrestees between 2011 and 2018. Leveraging these data sources, this proposed study will address each of five research questions described above. |
| Neighborhood Crime Survey: An Examination of the Relationship Between Immigration and Victimization | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION | $1,020,679 | Closed | The applicants propose a mixed-methods, city-wide victimization study focused on criminal victimization across Hispanic and Asian subgroups. The goals of this study are to: (1) identify patterns of criminal victimization across first-, second-, and third-generations of immigrants, (2) identify patterns of criminal victimization across Hispanic and Asian subgroups; (3) identify correlates of crime reporting among immigrants; (4) identify whether perceptions of immigration policies among immigrants are associated with responses to crime and victimization; (5) examine how neighborhood immigration concentration levels are associated with criminal victimization; (6) explore how immigrants view the threat of victimization for themselves and their local community; and (7) explore how victims of crime who are legal and illegal residents cope with victimization and utilize different resources (e.g., police, courts, and community organizations). The applicants propose to address these aims in three ways. They will conduct a cross-sectional survey of local residents' victimization experiences, in-depth interviews with both legal and illegal local residents, and focus groups with police officers, victim services providers, and members of community organizations. |
| Assessing the Relationship between Immigration Status, Crime, Gang Affiliation, and Victimization | 2020-R2-CX-0028 | CSU FULLERTON AUXILIARY SERVICES CORPORATION | $462,165 | Closed | Studies examining the relationship between illegal immigration and crime rates are often based on census data on immigration concentration in communities and overall crime rates. Less is known about immigration and crime at the individual level. By relying on individual-level data, the proposed project seeks to address the following research questions: 1. Does the likelihood of engaging in crime vary by immigration status? 2. Are illegal immigrants at an increased risk of joining gangs in general, or having affiliations to MS13 specifically? 3. Are undocumented immigrants at an increased risk of experiencing violent victimizations? This multi-methodological study relies on several qualitative and quantitative data sources to triangulate findings. The study uses quantitative self-report data from the Arizona Arrestee Reporting Information Network (AARIN), official intake data from the Maricopa County Central Intake Records, and community member surveys. Results from this project will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between immigration status and crime, victimization, and gang involvement as well as an understanding of immigrants' social networks and transnational criminal capacity and the relationship between nationality and likelihood of criminal involvement. These findings will serve as an empirical basis upon which to shape policies and practices targeted at the immigration issue. |
| Crime and Victimization on the US-Mexico Border: A Comparison of Legal Residents, Illegal Residents and Native-Born Citizens | 2019-R2-CX-0054 | THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO | $521,702 | Closed | This research project has three aims. First, it will explore whether prior deportations are associated with subsequent criminal activity, and compare levels of crime among illegal residents who overstayed their visas with those who crossed the border without inspection. Second, it will assess associations between crime and immigration status from individuals from a number of different countries, including Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico—the specific nations that currently have the highest immigration-sending levels to the U.S. Third, the proposed research will further explore the potential role of social support in the relationship between acculturation and crime. The data used in this study will consist of: (1) official data from a large sample of adult inmates from El Paso, Texas and (2) interview data from a subsample of these inmates. The administrative data will be joined with tract-level U.S. Census Data on neighborhood- level characteristics that have been associated with criminal behavior, and previously collected neighborhood-level cultural factors including acculturation, adherence to street codes, and police legitimacy. The research will be conducted via two studies. In Study 1, researchers will combine data that is collected by the El Paso Sheriff's Office with data from the U.S. Census with data collected as part of an earlier study by the Co-PI. In Study 2, researchers will conduct interviews with inmates at the jail. |
| New Directions in Research on Immigration and Crime | 2019-R2-CX-0056 | UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE | $713,114 | Past Project Period End Date | The project will improve understanding of the immigration-crime relationship, further explore how immigrant communities might be better conceptualized and operationalized in studies, and examine how the immigration-crime relationship is context-dependent and impacted by city-level immigration-related policies and practices. The applicants propose collecting and geocoding crime data at the neighborhood and census tract levels for cities across the United States. The study will also incorporate data from the Census and American Community Surveys (2000 and 2010), Reference USA historical business data from 1997-2014, TRACFed data to measure immigration enforcement, and data on victimization will come from the restricted-use NCVS. The applicants will conduct a series of analyses that examine how and whether immigration (beyond the simple foreign-born/native-born dichotomy) and crime are linked in neighborhoods across U.S. cities. One set of analyses will examine the immigration-crime relationship focusing on differences among immigrants based on citizenship status, reason for migration, and level of assimilation. Another set of analyses will provide an alternative conceptualization of immigrant neighborhoods, the Immigrant Ethnic Activity Space. This new measure more fully captures the ecology of immigrant communities and reflects where immigrants live and where they go for various ethnic-related activities, as well as the distance between the two. A third set of analyses will consider the extent to which the broader city-context of reception as well as immigration-related policies and practices condition the immigration-crime relationship. The applicants propose to isolate two specific components of immigration policy: 1) how active ICE agents are in referring undocumented individuals for deportation and 2) how cooperative local governments are with federal agents who attempt to identify non-citizens who commit crime. |
| Advancing the Understanding of Immigration, Crime, and Crime Reporting at the Local Level with a Synthetic Population | 2020-R2-CX-0027 | RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE | $899,954 | Open | This research has implications for the understanding of trends in immigration and different immigrant destinations and trends in crime and crime reporting. Given the methodological rigor, the study will be able to both broadly and specifically describe the relationship between illegal immigration and crime in the United States by type of crime. Furthermore, it will offer unique insight into crime reporting for communities with illegal immigrants. This will aid in contextualizing findings and determining whether a “crime reduction” effect of immigration exists, or whether the effect results from systematic underreporting. The study proposes to analyze the relationship between legal and illegal immigration, crime, and the reporting of crime. It seeks to advance the understanding of the nature of immigration and crime by: 1. Improving on previous methods of estimating the illegal immigrant population by incorporating national and local information to predict documentation status. 2. Examining the relationship of different types of crime and crime reporting by the percentage of illegal and legal residents at the census tract level. 3. Exploring whether the change in the proportion of immigrants in an area, both over time and space, is associated with change in crime rates and crime reporting. 4. Contrasting these relationships in traditional and emerging immigrant destinations and in places with low levels of immigration. The study design proposes to: 1. Collect and compile detailed incident-based crime reports (IBR) and calls for service (CFS) data to create census tract-level crime-specific offending rates and crime reporting rates for all census tracts in a selection of police jurisdictions. 2. Use cutting-edge statistical techniques in simulation and machine learning, in combination with the U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), to create a geographically accurate model to predict documentation status and apply it to a unique synthetic population of selected jurisdictions at the census tract level. 3. Conduct spatial and temporal analyses of the relationship between different types of crime and reporting of crime, nativity status, and legal residency for the foreign born. Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF |
| Illegal Immigration, Immigration Enforcement Policies, and American Citizens' Victimization Risk | 2019-R2-CX-0057 | THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY | $673,685 | Past Project Period End Date | This project offers the first direct assessment of whether US-born citizens' risk of victimization is affected by exposure to a growing number of illegal immigrants. The project will also examine different local immigration law enforcement strategies. The proposed project will integrate estimates of county-level illegal immigrant populations, data on local immigration policies and immigration law enforcement patterns, and a restricted-use version of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The project will also examine whether the presence of selected immigration policies within U.S. communities—the implementation of 287(g) program or a “sanctuary” anti-detainer policy—and the actual immigration enforcement tactics employed impacts US-born citizens' experience with crime. Many data sources will be accessed, but four are central to the project: (1) restricted-use data from the NCVS on non-lethal crimes experienced by US-born citizens between 2016-2020; (2) county-level estimates of the percentage of illegal immigrants in the total population and changes in the percentage of illegal immigrants in the total population since 2000; (3) a county-level database that captures the timing of local adoption of immigration law enforcement policies; and (4) county-level data on immigrant detainer issuance, arrests, removals, and local jail confinement of non-citizens. Data and a multiple imputation approach developed by the Co-PI and refined by the Migration Policy Institute will be used to estimate the illegal immigrant population of counties. |
| Title | Award Number | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Does racial discrimination matter explaining perceived police bias across four racial/ethnic groups | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This study explored factors that are associated with public perceptions of police bias and whether perceptions of racial discrimination affect relationships between race/ethnicity and perceptions of police bias. |
| Race ethnicity, phycological factors, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This study examines the role of race, ethnicity, and phycological factors in vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
| Immigrant Threat or Institutional Context? Examining Police Agency and County Context and the Implementation of the 287(g) Program | 2019-R2-CX-0057 | In this article, the authors review the origins of 287(g) and summarize key theoretical arguments that frame how certain attributes of law enforcement agencies and their corresponding counties may have been instrumental to 287(g) adoption, they then describe the data and methods employed in the study, and conclude with a discussion of the study’s key empirical, theoretical, and policy implications. |
| Illegal Immigration, Immigration Enforcement Policies, and American Citizens’ Victimization Risk | 2019-R2-CX-0057 | In this study, the researchers explored the connections between illegal immigration, immigration policy, and victimization risk. |
| Race, Ethnicity, Psychological Factors, and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy During the COVID-19 Pandemic | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This study examined the associations between perceived risk, perceived severity, and fear of contracting COVID-19 and vaccine acceptance among different ethnic groups in San José, California. |
| Assessing the Relationship between Immigration Status, Crime, Gang Affiliation, and Victimization | 2020-R2-CX-0028 | This document reports on a research project that examined the likelihood of four specific experiences based on immigration status, including undocumented status and citizenship by naturalization; it compares immigrants’ experiences relative to those of U.S.-born citizens; discusses research outcomes; and provides recommendations for policymakers and future researchers. |
| Comparing Crime Rates Between Undocumented Immigrants, Legal Immigrants, and Native-born US Citizens in Texas | 2019-R2-CX-0058 | This study used uniquely comprehensive arrest data from the Texas Department of Public Safety to compare the criminality of undocumented immigrants to legal immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens between 2012 and 2018. |
| Immigrant Organizations and Neighborhood Crime | 2019-R2-CX-0056 | This study examined the impact of immigrant-serving organizations on neighborhood crime in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area. |
| Immigrant status and neighborhood context on perceptions of police procedural justice | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This study examined the relationship between immigration generational status and people's perception of police procedural justice and explored the importance of contextual variables on residents’ perceptions of police procedural justice. |
| Understanding the Fear of Crime and Perceived Risk Across Immigrant Generations: Does the Quality of Social Ties Matter? | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This study examines the relationships between immigration, social ties, and perceptions of safety. |
| Did Immigrant Arrest Rates Change During the Trump Administration? Evidence From California and Texas | 2019-R2-CX-0058 | The authors of this study examine evidence from California and Texas to answer the question whether immigrant arrest rates changed after the transition from the Obama to the Trump administration. |
| Unauthorized Immigration, Crime, and Recidivism: Evidence from Texas | 2019-R2-CX-0058 | This study uses Texas’s Computerized Criminal History System (CCH) to assess the relationship between unauthorized immigration, crime, and recidivism. |
| Neighborhood Crime Survey: An Examination of the Relationship between Immigration and Victimization | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This paper describes a mixed-methods study of the nature and extent of criminal victimization experiences across immigrant groups and generations; it describes the project design and methodology, data analysis, implications for criminal justice policy and practice, and lists artifacts produced from the research. |
| Empirics of Immigration and Homicide: Evidence from California and Texas | 2019-R2-CX-0058 | The goal of this book chapter is to address the lack of information on basic questions regarding comparative rates of lethal violence between immigrants and U.S.-born citizens; it uses criminal history information for all arrests in California and Texas between the years 2006 and 2018 to provide an empirical foundation for general criminological literature on the immigration-homicide nexus by establishing facts about its key dimensions. |
| Federal local partnerships on immigration law enforcement: Are the policies effective in reducing violent victimization? | 2019-R2-CX-0057 | This study complements existing research by using longitudinal multilevel data from the National Crime Victimization Survey for 2005–2014 to simultaneously assess the impact of the three predominant immigration policies that have been implemented in local communities. |
| Procedural justice, neighbourhood context, and domestic violence reporting intention among subgroups of immigrants | 2019-R2-CX-0055 | This study explores procedural justice and neighbourhood characteristics considerations in examining whether there are differences in reporting domestic violence across various subgroups. |
| Crime and Victimization on the US-Mexico Border: A Comparison of Legal Residents, Illegal Residents and Native-Born Citizens | 2019-R2-CX-0054 | This study compares the criminal histories and victimization experiences of immigrants to those of U.S.-born citizens in the U.S.-Mexico border region. |
Date Published: October 24, 2024