They say the best lies are 80 percent true, but this widely-referenced piece of anti-immigration propaganda posted by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) misses that mark:

https://cis.org/Camarota/NonCitizens...-Crimes-201116

It opens with this...

"Many immigration advocates argue that immigrants have much lower crime rates than natives... As my colleague Jessica Vaughan and I pointed in a paper some years ago, however, the picture is far from clear."

...which is NOT true:

Not only is it plain common sense that illegal immigrants avoid committing crimes because their arrest might lead to deportation, but also and more importantly there is instead substantial authoritative evidence supporting the facts that immigrants in general and illegal immigrants in particular are LESS likely to commit crimes than other American residents. Here is just one example, which alone proves the point:

https://www.cato.org/blog/illegal-im...ssing-evidence

The CIS continues with this...

"While there are other issues, the biggest problem with studying immigrant crime is that states and localities do not systematically track the country of birth, citizenship, or legal status of those they arrest, convict, or incarcerate. But the federal government does track the citizenship of those it convicts. New data from the U.S. Sentencing Commission [USSC] shows that of those convicted of federal crimes between 2011 and 2016, 44.2 percent were not U.S. citizens — 21.4 percent, if immigration crimes are excluded. In comparison, non-citizens are 8.4 percent of the adult population. Of this 8.4 percent, about 4 percent are illegal immigrants and about 4 percent are legal immigrants."

...which is also NOT true:

As the following research shows, with or without immigration crimes excluded, (a) USSC "non-citizen" statistics include more than illegal immigrants, (b) USSC "offender" statistics are not comparable to general population stats, and (c) the US Census Bureau does not (yet) collect citizenship status data anyway. In other words, NONE of the CIS statistics above (44.2%, 21.4%, 8.4& or 4%) provide a logically valid or authoritative basis for assessing the share of all crimes committed by either non-citizens or illegal immigrants:

https://docdro.id/ZiIpBdy

The CIS then goes on to assert "[it] is almost certain that a majority of the non-citizens convicted of federal crimes are illegal immigrants" and "non-citizens are more likely to commit crimes than citizens" - both of which are baseless claims, the first of which would be baseless even IF the CIS stats were valid.

Finally the CIS presents a series of statistics they claim to be based on tables showing convictions "compiled by the Government Accountability Office [GAO] at the request of the Senate Judicatory Committee." But they provide no link to any government website for the supporting GAO document, and the US Senate DOES NOT HAVE a "Judicatory Committee." Be it fraud or faux pas, this is a glaring example of why Media Bias/Fact Check rates the white nationalist Center for Immigration Studies as "questionable":

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/cente...n-studies-cis/

Non-Citizens Committed a Disproportionate Share of Federal Crimes, 2011-16 - DEBUNKED.