In the face of recent events, such as the University of Georgia murder of Laken Riley, politicians have been blaming undocumented immigrants for violent crimes. In turn, they have called for stricter policies to support their unprecedented claims.
On Feb. 22, 2024, student Laken Riley was allegedykilled by Jose Antonio Ibarra while going for a run on the UGA campus. Ibarra, an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela, was already familiar with the police after being detained in 2022 and charged with child endangerment in 2023.
Riley’s roommates reported her missing when she did not return from her run, and she was later found dead in a nearby secluded area. Her cause of death was confirmed to be blunt force trauma to the head.
Ibarra, whose trial is set to start in November, is being charged with nine felonies and one misdemeanor.
In response to Riley’s murder, former President Donald Trump made a statement during a political rally claiming that if elected as president in the 2024 Presidential Election, he would enact policies to prevent “violent [and] illegal aliens” from committing more crime in America.
Georgia representative Marjorie Taylor Greene made a similar statement, reminding the crowd of Laken Riley’s case and claiming that immigrants are “raping our women, our children and murdering people.”
Many share their sentiment, with the National Opinion Research Center’s 2000 General Social Survey presenting that 73% of Americans link increased immigration to increased crime.
The myth that undocumented immigrants are inherently more violent than U.S.-born citizens has been present for decades, especially in the wake of recent mass migration.
The stereotype, however, has no logical standing.
Statistically, native-born Americans are proven to be more likely to commit violent crimes than immigrants. Studies show that undocumented immigrants are significantly less likely to be incarcerated, convicted of a crime or arrested on drug charges.
A rise in immigration has even been linked to a decrease in America’s overall crime rate, contrary to popular belief; the tight-knit communities often formed by immigrants tend to increase “structural factors” that decrease local crime rates through social and economic opportunities.
Instead of looking at the data that contradicts the stereotype of violent undocumented immigrants, politicians like former President Donald Trump exploit the victims of these crimes to generalize an entire group of people. Although Laken Riley deserves justice, she should not be used as a martyr for the movement against immigration.
The fact that almost three-fourths of the U.S. population believes that undocumented immigrants are criminals has the potential to cause unforseen negative consequences. The stigmatization of undocumented immigrants does more than just go against statistics on violent crime: it affects the lives of millions trying to find a fresh start in America.
Children with undocumented parents often face mental health struggles, financial burdens and negatively impacted education from anti-immigration policies. The detention of undocumented parents limits their children’s access to medical care without proper insurance and hinders their ability to thrive in America, even as legal citizens.
While stereotypes commonly identify immigrants as “violent illegals,” they are proven to be less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. The violent stereotype is unfounded, and politicians using it as the base of anti-immigrant legislation are only poisoning the mindset of the American people.
The death of UGA’s Laken Riley was a tragedy, but it should not be pinned against all undocumented immigrants.
