Immigrants come to Wisconsin in search of economic opportunity, looking for safe communities for themselves and their families. In turn, immigrants confer a number of benefits to Wisconsin communities, including cultural and economic vibrancy, entrepreneurship, and an expanded workforce for some of the state’s most critical industries. New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison demonstrates another benefit: undocumented immigration is associated with safer communities.

You wouldn’t know it from the harmful and virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric of President Trump, but as undocumented immigration has increased, the violent crime rate has dropped dramatically, new research shows.  A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who authored the study said that he did so in an attempt to help shape conversations about immigration. “This is one of those rare areas everyone is talking about, but the conversations are occurring in a vacuum of data,” study author Michael Light said. “I think public debate divorced entirely from data is problematic.”

The study showed that an increase in undocumented immigrants is associated with safer communities, in contrast to the claims of President Trump and some other politicians. A 1% increase in the proportion of the population that is undocumented is associated with 49 fewer violent crimes per 100,000 people, according to the study.

The self-selected nature of the immigrant population may be the reason that an increase in undocumented immigrants is associated with safer communities: “The idea is, immigrants are driven by pursuit of education and economic opportunities for themselves or their families,” Light said. “Moreover, migration—especially undocumented migration—requires a lot of motivation and planning. Those are characteristics that aren’t highly correlated with a high crime-prone disposition.” (Read more about the UW-Madison study.)
Other recent studies also show the extent to which President Trump’s malicious mischaracterization of undocumented immigrants misses the mark. Recent research has shown:

• An increase in undocumented immigration does not drive up rates of drug and alcohol arrests, the number of drug overdoses, or the number of DUI deaths. Like the research that showed the lack of a connection between violent crime and undocumented immigration, this study was conducted in part by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.
• Conviction and arrest rates for undocumented immigrants in Texas are lower than those of native-born Americans.
• Undocumented immigrant youth engage in less crime than their U.S.-born peers.

The lack of a connection between undocumented immigrants and crime means that raids targeting undocumented workers are focused on those who are more likely to be law-abiding. In addition, raids serve to rip children away from their parents, make immigrants wary of reporting crimes to police, and weaken civic institutions.

All Wisconsin residents—regardless of what country they were born in—want safe communities in which to live, work, and raise their families. President Trump and others who disparage immigrants, their contributions, and their desire to live in safe communities are choosing to make inflammatory, damaging statements that don’t accurately reflect life in Wisconsin communities.

Tamarine Cornelius