Look at the Data
To the Editor:
I felt it was important to respond to last week’s letter titled “Crimes by Illegals” and acknowledge that there are indeed victims of violent crimes committed by immigrants. However, the broader data reveals a different reality than what’s often portrayed.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety data analyzed by the Cato Institute, the crime rates per 100,000 people are:
• 1,422 for native-born citizens • 782 for undocumented immigrants
• 535 for legal immigrants Put simply: while all groups commit crimes, you’re statistically more likely to be the victim of a crime committed by a native-born citizen than by an immigrant—legal or undocumented.
This information isn’t difficult to find, yet it rarely surfaces on networks that rely on fear, outrage and xenophobia to maintain viewership.
Regarding claims about “flooding America with future voters,” let’s examine the actual data. During Texas’s routine 2024 voter roll maintenance—a standard process to remove people who have moved or died— 1.1 million people were removed from voter rolls. Among these, 6,500 noncitizens were flagged as illegally registered, with 1,930 having a documented voting history that was referred to the Attorney General’s Office for investigation.
For perspective: Texas has 18.6 million registered voters. Even if all 1,930 individuals voted for the same candidate, they couldn’t have changed any statewide election outcome. Consider that one of our closest recent statewide races—Ted Cruz vs. Beto O’Rourke in 2018—was decided by 214,921 votes, or 2.6 percentage points.
As for these “future voters” and their potential influence: immigrants demonstrate remarkable economic contributions. They are 80% more likely to start businesses than native-born Americans. In 2023, immigrants accounted for 18% of U.S. economic output—approximately $2.1 trillion—while comprising just 14.3% of the population. Additionally, immigrants or their children founded 44 of the 87 U.S. startup companies valued at $1 billion or more.
Given this track record of economic contribution and entrepreneurship, I’m comfortable with them becoming influential future voters.
Ian Julian La Grange