Graphic by Maya Uribe
By Kevin Fox
Immigration has become a defining issue in the 2024 United States presidential race, with candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump offering different views and a sharp contrast in rhetoric. While Harris has advocated for comprehensive immigration reform, she and the Democrat party have ceded ground on immigration and she is now pursuing the most conservative policy ever in modern history on the border. Trump remains a strong proponent of stricter border control. Both candidates have made claims about the impact of immigration on crime and security. This article fact-checks some of those claims, particularly on immigrant crime and border policies from Trump.
Immigrants and Crime: Trump has consistently argued that illegal immigration leads to increased crime, using his 2024 campaign to highlight security concerns along the U.S.-Mexico border. In a recent speech, Trump claimed, “They’ve taken their criminals off the street and they’ve given them to her to put into our country.” He cites violent crimes, including murders, as justification for his stringent border policies and even infers that Mexico is rounding up criminals to send to the U.S. and Harris not only knows of this but is asking for them to be sent over. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 29 murders by immigrants last year and has 27 murders this year.
The fact is, according to Research co-led by Northwestern University economist Elisa Jácome offers the first historical comparison of incarceration rates between immigrants and U.S.-born citizens. The research showed that immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S. citizens, and 30% less than U.S. born whites. The study spans over 150 years of data collected from around the United States.
A study done by the Cato Institute in 2024, a conservative libertarian think-tank, found that in Texas, immigrants were 37.1% less likely to be incarcerated.
Open Border Claims: Trump has made countless claims that the Biden administration’s policies on immigration and the border are akin to having an “open border”. Trump claimed in his Presidential debate with Joe Biden that the Biden administration had “… decided to open up our border, open up our country,” and later claimed this policy is “poisoning the blood of the country.”
The fact is, the Biden administration maintained the Trump-era policy that used COVID-19 to close the border. Biden used Title 42, a little known health policy, that Trump had used in March of 2020, to carry on expelling migrants and to severely limit border crossings until May 11th 2021 where it opened back up to vaccinated border crossers.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) own data shows that, yes, there are more people crossing the border and seeking asylum in America, but arrests have nearly doubled from the highest arrest years under Trump’s policies. Under Trump in 2017 arrests topped out at 8,531 and this year, 2024, under Biden the CBP has made 15,608 arrests.
Flow of Fentanyl From South of the Border: Trump has made accusations that Mexico and Mexican immigrants are making a concerted effort to work with drug cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl. Trump made this claim at the Republican Convention, “Biden, with his border czar, Vice President Harris, opened our southern border, allowing criminals and terrorists to enter our country. They’ve emboldened drug cartels to flood our streets with fentanyl, killing over 100,000 Americans every year.”
The fact is, America is suffering from an opioid epidemic, worsened by fentanyl entering the country through the southern border. During the Biden administration, seizure of fentanyl at the border has skyrocketed. According to the database of CBP during the Trump administration, the highest amount seized was 809 pounds in 2020 and in contrast during Biden’s term the seizure has grown to 27.2k pounds in 2023.
Are immigrants responsible for the dangerous drug, fentanyl, flowing into America? Statistics from the Cato Institute show that 89% of arrests made for drug possession at the border are of American citizens. The data from American law enforcement shows that drugs are coming through legal ports of entry brought in by American citizens rather than migrants.
We have an election coming up in 39 days, and in a world where misinformation is prevalent and immigration a hot topic issue, it is extremely important to know the truth about immigration in the U.S. The use of drumming up fear of migrants, human beings already in a precarious situation, as a tool for political gain is despicable and absolutely reprehensible. Use these facts the next time someone tells you that we need to close the border and deport millions of migrants.
