New Study; Gov. Statistics Show that "Sanctuary City" Policies Don't Increase Crime Rates

Despite the rhetoric of the Trump administration and right-wing news outlets, sanctuary cities don't have higher crime rates because of policies that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE]. A new study by David Hausman of Stanford University, based on data collected by ICE and the FBI, confirms many earlier studies that show no uptick in violent or property crimes in cities that have adopted sanctuary city policies. Moreover, such policies reduced deportations of law abiding individuals without affecting the deportations of undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

PNAS.org: "The US government maintains that local sanctuary policies prevent deportations of violent criminals and increase crime. This report tests those claims by combining Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation data and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) crime data with data on the implementation dates of sanctuary policies between 2010 and 2015. Sanctuary policies reduced deportations of people who were fingerprinted by states or counties by about one-third. Those policies also changed the composition of deportations, reducing deportations of people with no criminal convictions by half—without affecting deportations of people with violent convictions. Sanctuary policies also had no detectable effect on crime rates. These findings suggest that sanctuary policies, although effective at reducing deportations, do not threaten public safety."

“There’s no evidence sanctuary policies harm public safety, and there’s no evidence those policies increase crime,” said study researcher David K. Hausman.

And, other studies have documented that sanctuary cities see substantial benefits from their policies without increasing crime.

Sage Journals: "We find no statistically discernible difference in violent crime, rape, or property crime rates across the cities. Our findings provide evidence that sanctuary policies have no effect on crime rates, despite narratives to the contrary. The potential benefits of sanctuary cities, such as better incorporation of the undocumented community and cooperation with police, thus have little cost for the cities in question in terms of crime."

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By: Don Lam & Curated Content