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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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Both legal and illegal immigrants are convicted of significantly lower numbers of homicides in Texas on a per capita basis than native-born Americans, according to a new study conducted by the Cato Institute think tank.
According to data compiled for the report between 2013 and 2022, the homicide conviction rate for native-born Americans was 3.0 per 100,000, against 1.2 per 100,000 for legal migrants and 2.2 per 100,000 for illegal immigrants. Over the same period, the homicide arrest rate was 6.2 per 100,000 for those born in the U.S. against 2.6 for legal migrants and 3.4 for illegal migrants.
Immigration has surged up the political agenda following a rise in the number of suspected illegal migrant detentions over the past few years, though according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, the figure has since fallen and was 30 percent lower in April 2024 than in April 2023. Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has focused heavily on immigration, which he has blamed for "BIDEN MIGRANT CRIME" as he seeks a second White House term.
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The Cato Institute research paper, titled "Illegal Immigrant Murders in Texas, 2013-2022", was compiled using figures acquired from the Texas Department of Public Safety via a Public Information Act request. It concluded that between 2013 and 2022 legal and illegal migrants were 61 percent and 26 percent respectively less likely to be convicted of homicide than native-born Americans.
In 2022, the most recent year for which the Cato Institute has data, the report found the homicide conviction rate for native-born Americans was 4.9 per 100,000, against 3.1 per 100,000 for illegal migrants and just 1.8 per 100,000 for legal immigrants. In total, between 2013 and 2022, 729 illegal migrants, 765 legal immigrants and 14,710 native-born Americans were arrested on suspicion of homicide in the Lone Star State.
The report also showed the conviction rate for all crimes between 2013 and 2022 was lower for legal and illegal migrants in Texas than those born in the U.S., though it cautioned the data showing this is incomplete.
In total, during the time period, 145,254 illegal migrants, 159,138 legal migrants and 3,113,693 native-born Americans were convicted of a crime in Texas. This averages 685 convictions per 100,000 illegal migrants, 551 per 100,000 legal migrants and 1,321 per 100,000 of those born in the U.S.
However, the Cato Institute warned readers to "skeptically interpret" this data as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice "does not expend many resources investigating the immigration statuses of those convicted of relatively minor crimes."
Newsweek has contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas Governor Greg Abbott for comment via email.
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In March 2021, Governor Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in a bid to reduce illegal migration into Texas, as part of which he deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers to the border and installed razor wire along with floating buoys in the Rio Grande River. In 2023, the federal government filed a lawsuit demanding the buoys be removed, which it said are obstructing a navigable waterway, but this is still being contested.
While the Cato Institute figures suggest migrants commit fewer murders on average than native-born Americans, a number of specific cases have attracted substantial media attention over recent months.
In February 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley was killed after going for a run in Athens, Georgia. Police have charged 26-year-old Venezuelan illegal migrant José Antonio Ibarra over her death but he has pleaded not guilty to all counts and denies wrongdoing. A trial is expected to take place in the fall. House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene heckled President Biden over Riley's death ahead of his State of the Union address in March.
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