Immigrant crime rates in the US

The first weekend in August was another tragic one in the United States. Two mass shootings claimed more than 30 lives. A 21-year-old man accused of killing 22 people in El Paso, Texas allegedly wrote a manifesto railing against immigration saying ‘this attack is a response to Hispanic invasion of Texas’.

President Trump has long referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists and people that bring in drugs and crime. But what evidence is there that immigrants (illegal or otherwise) commit more crimes than native-born Americans – whether it be in Texas or the US as a whole? Ben Carter talks to Alex Nowrasteh, Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity.

Presenter and Producer: Ben Carter

(Mexican and U.S. flags fly at a makeshift memorial honoring victims in El Paso, Texas. Photo Credit:Mario Tama/Getty Images)