During last week’s Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asserted that Americans are unsafe due to immigrants committing violent crimes. However, leading immigration experts dispute this claim.
Nancy Foner, Ph.D., a sociology professor at City University of New York’s Hunter College, called the idea that immigrants are criminals an old but persistent myth. She cited data showing that most immigrants are not violent criminals.
“The foreign-born, in fact, are much less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes,” Foner stated. “Cities and neighborhoods with more immigrants have much lower crime rates than similar non-immigrant areas.”
Cruz also blamed immigrants for smuggling fentanyl across the 2,000-mile southern border. But the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reports that 90% of drugs linked to overdose deaths are smuggled by U.S. citizens through legal ports of entry.
Cruz further claimed that immigrants were being allowed into the U.S. to vote in upcoming elections, a conspiracy theory that rarely, if ever, happens. David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, emphasized that non-citizens are not legally permitted to vote in federal elections and face immediate deportation if caught.
“To cast one ballot in an election with 160 million votes, it happens exceedingly rarely,” said Becker. “This is due to the effective policies already in place by states and the federal government.”
There were also claims that immigrants receive welfare benefits. Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, clarified that immigrants are not eligible for programs like SNAP (food stamps), Social Security, or other benefits, though they do pay taxes that fund these programs.
Orrenius highlighted that immigrants actually strengthen the U.S. economy, though local governments can feel strained if immigrants earn low wages. “The negative impact mainly comes from education costs,” Orrenius noted. “K-12 education is expensive, but this spending is an investment that will repay many times over.”