Undocumented immigrants are not behind Chicago crime surge

The “Your Turn” column by Alison Mitchell brought to mind that tried-and-true nugget penned by Mark Twain: “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” Statistics are only as good as their context and source.

Mitchell cites that 64% of federal arrests involved non-citizens. While this statistic is accurate, according to the Justice Department, most of these arrests were non-violent (immigration-related) crimes. U.S. Citizens (95%) still make up the bulk of federal arrests for violent crimes.

In addition, Mitchell states that Chicago “has seen an increase of violent crime 11,000% since the Venezuelan Crisis began.”

Notably, this statistic is provided by FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform), an organization that has the proverbial “axe to grind.”

Leaving its bias aside, however, this statistic conflates Chicago’s violent crime with the arrival of Venezuelan immigrants. The FAIR website’s title proclaims: “Sanctuary City Chicago Sees 11,000% Increase in Arrests of Venezuelans Since Border Crisis Began.”

There were six Venezuelans arrested in 2021-2022; this past year, that statistic rose to 686. Of these 686 arrests, only 2 were deemed violent by the Chicago Police Department—none of them murder.

Interestingly, Chicago’s shootings and homicides dropped in 2023, but of course the violence there still remains unacceptably high. There were 673 murders in Chicago in 2023 — none of them committed by Venezuelan immigrants.

It is certainly true that immigration is a crucial issue that both parties at the federal and state levels need to solve.

However, offering inaccurate statistics that try to paint all immigrants as violent hordes is not helpful.

I’ll leave you with this last U.S. Department of Justice observation: “undocumented immigrants had substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens.”