Cops and scholars agree: immigration doesn't increase crime rates

​​May 2017

When police chiefs gather at their conferences to discuss the causes of crime, they talk about gangs, drug trafficking and even dysfunctional family homes, according to retired Anaheim Police Capt. Joe Vargas. They don't talk about immigration.

And that reflects the scholarly findings of Charis Kubrin, professor of criminology, law and society. Kubring has examined hundreds of studies and has found that immigrants are less crime-prone than the native-born population and that immigration to an area causes crime to go down, not up. Kubrin and Vargas both appeared on "Inside OC with Rick Reiff" to discuss immigration, crime and policing.

However, scholars' findings about immigration and crime haven't made their way into the general public's imagination.

"You will hear people say left, right and center that immigrants are crime-prone, they are causing our crime rates to go up, right? The (presidential) executive orders we are seeing now reflect that assumption, and it is not true," Kubrin said.

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