Immigration isn’t the crime story we’re being told

A version of this column originally appeared in Michigan Advance.

Drive through Hamtramck today and you’ll see a city that has found new life. After decades of population decline following deindustrialization, waves of immigration from Muslim-majority countries have helped revitalize this Michigan community. Today, crime rates in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods are significantly lower than in other parts of the city. Small businesses line the streets, families walk to school and the community has regained much of the vitality it had lost.

This might seem unexpected to those who follow recent political rhetoric around immigration and crime. In April, when a Michigan lawmaker characterized immigrants as “violent gangbangers, perverts, scammers and all sorts of other criminals,” he was speaking to widely held but unsupported concerns following a surge in immigration. So, what does the evidence actually show?

Consider what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) own data tells us. According to ICE’s September 2025 records from Michigan, the overwhelming majority of those detained, 86%, are classified as having “No ICE Threat Level,” with no prior criminal convictions. Decades of research have actually found that people who are undocumented are more than 30% less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. 

What we’re seeing in Hamtramck reflects a broader trend documented across the country, where immigrant communities often contribute to neighborhood stability rather than undermining it. In fact, of the top 10 Michigan cities with the highest proportion of foreign-born residents, the majority had lower than average property crime and violent crime given both their size and poverty levels. 

Why would this be? Laurence Benenson, policy liaison at the Law Enforcement Immigration Task Force — a group primarily composed of police officers — observes that immigration is highly self-selective; the people willing to uproot their lives are typically motivated, law-abiding individuals, not criminals looking to exploit the system. This explains why crime rates often drop as immigrants move into an area. 

Yet media coverage tells a dramatically altered story. Between 2022 and 2024, Fox News aired nearly 1,000 segments on “migrant crime,” with coverage jumping 880% in early 2024. These broadcasts increased even as violent crime declined nationwide and research continued to confirm lower crime rates among immigrants. At the same time, claims that the U.S. is under invasion by transnational Latin American gangs, such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, have been used to justify the use of the Alien Enemies Act, enabling deportations without due process. 

But Maya Barak, who teaches criminology at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and specifically studied transnational Latin American gangs like MS-13, says these groups tend to be concentrated on the coasts and aren’t considered a significant public safety threat in Michigan. She adds that most gang violence is between and among rivals and tends not to extend into the community, where they don’t have a foothold. 

Under the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, with H.R. 1 transforming ICE into the highest-funded domestic enforcement agency, arrests have increased 150% in Michigan. Raids can now proceed at schools, churches and hospitals. Six Michigan cities and counties have signed potentially costly 287(g) agreements, deputizing local law enforcement for immigration duties and paving the way for mass deportation. 

This enforcement environment undermines public safety. According to Barak, it pushes people underground out of fear, endangering community trust and limiting law enforcement. Current policies are terrorizing immigrant communities, preventing them from contacting emergency services, which are often intertwined with local police, discouraging life-saving calls. Washtenaw County Sheriff Alyshia Dyer says federal immigration enforcement demands divert local resources from urgent public safety issues like human trafficking.

Behind these public debates is a human reality. One of the largest polls of asylum seekers in the U.S. shows that nearly 70% of immigrants come to the U.S. seeking a better future for their children, with about 6 in 10 Central American immigrants fleeing crime. These aren’t profiles of violent criminals — they’re profiles of people escaping crime, seeking the same opportunities and security that have drawn people to America for generations.