There is a lot of speculation and twisting of facts when it comes

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1 HOW MUCH CRIME DO UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS COMMIT IN UTAH? RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN SUMMARY Background In Utah and the U.S., an increase in Hispanic and foreign-born population correlates with a decline in crime. Only Utah County Jail and Weber County Jail can take immigrants who are being held solely for lack of documentation (a.k.a. ICE-only inmates), so those jails have a disproportionate number of undocumented immigrants compared with other county jails. The percentage of murderers and sex offenders in prison who are undocumented appears disproportionately high, but factors such as lack of eligibility for parole complicate the statistics. What s at stake? An accurate perception of undocumented immigrants and public safety in Utah. The perspective that although any crime is a problem, undocumented immigrants are responsible for only a small percentage of the problem. What s next? Sutherland Institute supports legislation to allow undocumented immigrants to work legally in Utah, which would also combat identity theft. The numbers show that residents who are undocumented do not commit a disproportionate number of crimes in the state. There is a lot of speculation and twisting of facts when it comes to the question of how much crime undocumented immigrants commit in Utah. This report is an attempt to examine the empirical evidence (although it is by no means complete) to answer this question, using the data without picking and choosing convenient statistics or ignoring statistics that might go against one's ideology. Social and historical context will be provided in an attempt to understand what the numbers mean. NATIONAL CONTEXT To understand what is going on in Utah, it is important to look at what is going on at the national level. The following table shows the incarceration rates for various racial and ethnic groups according to the 2000 Census. Incarceration Rates as a Percentage of the Population, U.S.-Born vs. Foreign-Born, 2000 U.S.-born Whites (non-hispanic) 1.71% Foreign-born 0.68% Foreign-born Hispanics 0.99% Foreign-born Mexicans 0.70% Source: Rubén G. Rumbaut et al., "Immigration and Incarceration," in Immigration and Crime: Race, Ethnicity, and Violence (New York: 2006). Note that the foreign-born are four times less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born whites. Foreign-born Hispanics are also much less likely to be incarcerated, and foreign-born Mexicans are less Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute 1

2 U.S. Foreign-Born and Hispanics Populations and Total Crimes (Property and Violent) Number/Offenses (in millions) Hispanics (in millions) Foreign-Born (in millions) All Property Crimes (in millions) All Violent Crimes (in millions) Source: Integrated Public Use Microdata, Current Population Survey (Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Population Center), cps. ipums.org/cps; Bureau of Justice Statistics-Data Online, Note: Property crimes include burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft; violent crimes include aggravated assault, robbery, forcible rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. than half as likely to be incarcerated as whites. Other data sources say that the second generation (U.S.- born) are more likely to be incarcerated than the first generation (foreign-born). Furthermore, the third generation (grandchildren of immigrants) are more likely to commit crimes and be incarcerated than the second generation. Another way to look at crime is through trends in the foreign-born and Hispanic population growth coupled with the total crime rates in the United States. The above table highlights the correlation between increasing numbers of Hispanic and foreign-born immigrants in the United States between 1994 and 2005 and the overall lower numbers of property and violent crimes. While correlation is not causation, surely Hispanics and foreign-born immigrants are not bringing ever-increasing amounts of crimes with them. 2 How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute

3 Utah Foreign-Born and Hispanic Populations and Total Crimes (Property and Violent) Hispanics (in thousands) Foreign-Born (in thousands) Number/Offenses (in thousands) All Property Crimes (in thousands) All Violent Crimes (in thousands) Source: Integrated Public Use Microdata, Current Population Survey (Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Population Center), cps. ipums.org/cps; Bureau of Justice Statistics-Data Online, Note: Property crimes include burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft; violent crimes include aggravated assault, robbery, forcible rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. This same relationship between Hispanics and crimes is also seen in Utah if the same statistics at the state level are examined. These statistics come from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Census Bureau, so they represent estimates of the given populations in question. These data represent Hispanics and foreign-born immigrants and do not clearly distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants. Most of the debate centers on the crimes that are committed by illegal immigrants, especially since they have already committed a violation by coming into this country without papers or overstaying their visas. As mentioned above, this report specifically focuses on undocumented immigrants (or illegal aliens). To better understand the relationship between undocumented immigrants and crime in Utah, it is nec- essary to examine these immigrants in Utah jails and prisons. Jails hold lower-level criminals at the county level, whereas prisons are state facilities where higherlevel criminals are incarcerated. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS IN COUNTY JAILS There are only two county jails in Utah that are designated as federal detention centers and can hold undocumented immigrants waiting to be deported: Utah County Jail and Weber County Jail. Thus, these two jails will contain a disproportionate number of undocumented immigrants compared with the other county jails. How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute 3

4 Utah County Jail ICE Detainees Compared With Total Population, % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% Remaining ICE only ICE/Felony ICE/Misdemeanor 20% 10% 0% Jan-07 Mar-07 May-07 Jul-07 Sep-07 Nov-07 Jan-08 Mar-08 May-08 Jul-08 Sep-08 Nov-08 Jan-09 Mar-09 May-09 Jul-09 Sep-09 Nov-09 Jan-10 Mar-10 May-10 Jul-10 Source: Utah County Jail The above figure represents the number of undocumented immigrants in the Utah County Jail from January 2007 through August It is easy to see how drastically the numbers of undocumented immigrants fluctuate on any given month. This is because undocumented immigrants are continually being deported to their country of origin, and undocumented immigrants are being brought to this jail from all over the state (and, as it turns out, from all over the country). Also notice that there are three basic types of undocumented immigrants in the Utah County Jail: those with an ICE detainer, those with an ICE detainer who have committed a misdemeanor, and those with an ICE detainer who have committed a felony. An ICE detainer means that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau (ICE) are keeping track of them, and they do not have legal papers to reside in this country. Thus ICE-only refers to those undocumented immigrants who are not being held for specific crimes (such as a felony or misdemeanor; they may have originally been brought in under such a charge but have since been cleared) but are awaiting deportation. Only the Utah County Jail and the Weber County jail in Utah will house ICE-only immigrants, and thus their numbers are inflated compared with the other county jails. 4 How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute

5 Utah County Jail ICE Detainees Compared With Total Population, % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Remaining ICE/Felony ICE/Misdemeanor 10% 0% Jan-07 Mar-07 May-07 Jul-07 Sep-07 Nov-07 Jan-08 Mar-08 May-08 Jul-08 Sep-08 Nov-08 Jan-09 Mar-09 May-09 Jul-09 Sep-09 Nov-09 Jan-10 Mar-10 May-10 Jul-10 Source: Utah County Jail This graph is identical to the preceding graph except that the ICE-only detainees have been eliminated to show what the population would look like without them. It is somewhat misleading to count them as criminals because they are not being held on a misdemeanor or felony charge. While some may argue that they are criminals because they have crossed the border without papers, they are not criminals in the sense of committing property or violent crimes. There are additional complications with counting the ICE-only inmates among the other undocumented inmates, the biggest of which is that a proportion of these inmates are coming from out of state. For example, Montana and Idaho do not have federal detention centers for ICE-only detainees, and thus as many as half of these inmates may be coming to Utah (while the others are going to Arizona). There are also documented cases of undocumented immigrants being held in Utah from Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada and even California, most likely as a result of space and cost issues although these out-of-state inmates more than likely represent a small percentage of the undocumented immigrants. Those from Montana and Idaho may be a much larger proportion, but it is impossible at this time to tell how much of a proportion they represent. Thus the percentage of undocumented immigrants compared with the overall inmates in the county jail is calculated as a range, with the lower estimate eliminating the ICE-only detainees and the upper estimate including the ICEonly detainees. How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute 5

6 Weber County Jail ICE Detainees Compared With Total Population, % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Non-ICE Population Non Hold Inmate 10% 0% Jan-07 Mar-07 May-07 Jul-07 Sep-07 Nov-07 Jan-08 Mar-08 May-08 Jul-08 Sep-08 Nov-08 Jan-09 Mar-09 May-09 Jul-09 Sep-09 Nov-09 Jan-10 Mar-10 May-10 Jul-10 Source: Weber County Jail The above figure represents the number of ICE inmates in Weber County, although the numbers appear to be much lower and the Weber County Jail does not distinguish between the three categories of ICE detainees. The number of ICE-only detainees has been approximated, based on the number in the Utah County Jail (72 percent of the undocumented inmates in the Utah County Jail were ICE-only inmates). It is likely that the Weber County Jail houses fewer ICE-only detainees because it is technically not a federal detention center but signed a Memorandum of Agreement with ICE in October It is also possible that it does not have as much space for undocumented immigrants as the Utah County Jail. The table "Undocumented Immigrants in Utah County Jails," on page 7, shows an approximation of the numbers of total inmates in all of the county jails, the number with an ICE detainer, and the percent of undocumented inmates out of the total number of inmates. This paper has discussed the Utah County and Weber County jails, and these numbers are an average across the three-year span the data were examined and represent a range with and without the ICE-only detainees (those awaiting deportation and not being held for a specific charge). The other numbers came from the Sutherland Institute s data from Just the Facts (2009). While the other county jails (other than Utah and Weber) are snapshots and subject to vast differences depending on the day the data were collected, it will have to do until better data from the other county jails can be gathered. 6 How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute

7 Undocumented Immigrants in Utah County Jails ICE DETAINEE PERCENT ICE COUNTY TOTAL INMATES INMATES DETAINEES Beaver % Box Elder % Cache % Carbon % Daggett % Duchesne % Emery % Kane % Millard % Salt Lake % San Juan % Sevier % Summit % Tooele % Utah % Wasatch % Weber % Source: All of this data with the exception of the Utah and Weber County jails was collected by the Sutherland Institute Jan , 2009 (Just the Facts). Nonetheless, the other jails hold relatively few undocumented immigrants, and this is because the other county jails only hold those undocumented immigrants that committed a crime in that county. These inmates will be identified as documented or undocumented, and once they have served their time (some of them will serve time in a state prison), ICE will escort the undocumented inmates to either the Utah or Weber County Jail. Therefore, minor changes in the number of ICE detainees in the other county jails will not drastically change the percentage of undocumented immigrants as a percentage of the total inmates. Percentage of Utah County Jail Inmates Who Are Undocumented TOTAL INMATES ICE DETAINEE INMATES PERCENT ICE DETAINEES Without ICE-only Detainees 5, % With ICE-only Detainees 5, % Source: Utah and Weber County Jails and Just the Facts (Sutherland Institute) These statistics show that undocumented immigrants make up between 2 to 5 percent of the total inmates in the county jails in the state of Utah. While a range may seem unsatisfying for some, given all of the factors associated with these numbers, it is virtually impossible to come up with an exact number. Another factor that may affect these numbers is if undocumented immigrants are deported before they have served a full sentence. It is almost impossible to know if this is the case or not, but if it is happening, it is more likely happening for undocumented immigrants convicted of relatively minor crimes, and those held in the county jails. It is therefore necessary to examine the state prisons where undocumented immigrants are less likely to be deported early, especially for crimes such as sex offenses and murders. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS IN STATE PRISONS The table following this paragraph specifies the total inmate population in the state prisons in Utah. It shows how many are undocumented and the percentage of undocumented out of the total population from 2002 until One of the complaints against looking at this kind of data is that it takes ICE agents some time to identify all of the inmates who are undocumented, How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute 7

8 in that they have to personally interview the inmates. Using averages over a nine-year span should help to eliminate much of this concern. Undocumented Immigrants in Utah State Prisons, TOTAL ICE DETAINEE PERCENT ICE YEAR INMATES INMATES DETAINEES , , , , , , , , , Avg. 6, Source: State of Utah, Department of Corrections The average percentage of undocumented immigrants over this nine-year span is roughly 4.5 percent. This is roughly equivalent to the percentage of undocumented immigrants as a percentage of the total population of Utah (estimates of 100,000 undocumented immigrants in the state of Utah puts the percentage of undocumented immigrants at roughly 4 percent of the population of Utah) and represents what one would expect given their population size. Murder and Sex Registrable Offenses Among Undocumented Immigrants in Utah State Prisons, 2010 MURDER OFFENSES SEX REGISTRABLE OFFENSES Total Inmates 655 Total Inmates 2,053 ICE Detainee Inmates 79 ICE Detainee Inmates 181 Non-Detainee Inmates 576 Non-Detainee Inmates 1,872 Percent ICE Detainees 12% Percent ICE Detainees 9% Source: State of Utah, Department of Corrections Among murderers in the Utah state prisons, undocumented immigrants represent 12 percent, and among sex offenders, undocumented immigrants represent 9 percent. (It is important to note that it is unreliable to report any of the numerous categories of murders and/ or sex offenders given the small numbers of undocumented immigrants that fall in each category.) While this appears to show that undocumented immigrants represent a disproportionate amount of murders and sex offenders, it is actually a little more complicated than that. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for parole, as they will not be released from prison upon serving their sentence but will be sent to the Utah or Weber County Jails for deportation, and thus it is possible that undocumented immigrants are serving longer sentences, whereas documented inmates may be released early for good behavior, etc. While this is the case for the overall number of state prison inmates, when specific categories are examined, this is not the case. For example, sex offenders can participate in a rehabilitation program that can help them be released early, but undocumented immigrants do not qualify for such programs. Thus, they may be spending more time in prison than those inmates who are not illegal immigrants, and thus there may be an accumulation effect with the undocumented immigrants spending more time and becoming a larger percentage of the inmate population over time. In other words, it is difficult to say what these percentages really mean. 8 How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute

9 Percentage of Utah Inmates (Prisons and County Jails) Who Are Undocumented TOTAL INMATES ICE DETAINEE INMATES PERCENT ICE DETAINEES Without ICE-only Detainees 10, % With ICE-only Detainees 10, % Source: Department of Corrections, Utah and Weber County Jails and Just the Facts (Sutherland Institute) Once the numbers of county jail inmates and state prison inmates are combined, the total is more than 10,000 inmates, with the undocumented representing 3.8 to 5.4 percent depending on whether ICE-only detainees are included. Again, it is hard to nail down an exact percentage given all the factors that influence such percentages, but we can be fairly confident that the actual percentage falls somewhere within this range. Even with the higher percentage of murderers and sex offenders, this number is what could be expected, given a population of around 4 percent of undocumented immigrants in Utah. Below is a summary of the various factors that have already been mentioned that affect the percentage of undocumented inmates in the Utah jail and prison system. Factors That Affect Incarceration Rates of Undocumented Immigrants in Utah FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TOWARD UNDERESTIMATION 1. Undocumented immigrants may be deported before serving full sentence 2. Delays in identifying undocumented immigrants in jails and prisons 3. Double-counting of state inmates held in county jails FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TOWARD OVERESTIMATION 1. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for parole and may serve longer sentences 2. Counting ICE only detainees among the general population of "criminals" 3. Undocumented immigrants serving in Utah are coming from other states (MT, ID, CO, WY, NV, CA) This report has tried to account for all of these factors. The first factor that leads to underestimations is the most difficult to account for because it happens in the courts. This paper has looked at multiple years of data and presented averages to account for the second factor. It has also accounted for the third factor in the totals presented in this report. Data is currently being obtained to account for the first factor that leads to overestimation. The second factor is already accounted for with the ranges of percentages. It is impossible to know how many undocumented immigrants are coming from out of state, so it is difficult to know how much of an influence the third factor is having, although Utah is likely getting large numbers of ICE-only detainees from Montana and Idaho given that they do not have federal detention centers. This is not to say that this lower percentage of undocumented inmates is not a problem. Any amount of crime in Utah is a problem. It is important, however, to keep it in perspective. It is a problem, but it is only 5 percent of the problem, and not 50 percent or 80 percent of the problem. It is also problematic to introduce antiimmigrant legislation under the pretense that it will cut down on the high rates of crime committed by undocumented immigrants. It is worth revisiting the number of Hispanics in Utah alongside the violent crime rate. This time let s look at the past 30 years. The number of Hispanics increased from around 300 Hispanics per 10,000 existing Utahns in 1978 to more than 1,100 Hispanics per 10,000 Utahns in During this same time, the violent crime rate decreased from 272 crimes per 100,000 Utahns to a 30-year low in 2008 of 224 crimes per 100,000 Utahns. Clearly the rise in Hispanics does not coincide with a rise in violent crimes. In other words, Utahns are safer now than they have been in the last three decades. How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute 9

10 The Hispanic Population and Violent Crime Rates in Utah, ,400 1,200 1, Hispanics (per 10,000) Violent Crime Rate (per 100,000) Source: Integrated Public Use Microdata, Current Population Survey (Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Population Center), cps. ipums.org/cps; Bureau of Justice Statistics-Data Online, Note: Violent crimes include aggravated assault, robbery, forcible rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter. UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS COMMITTING IDENTITY THEFT It would be remiss not to bring up the issue of identity theft. If indeed most of the undocumented immigrants are working in the formal economy, that means they are using false Social Security cards and committing identity theft, which is a felony. Some observers have estimated that upwards of 50,000 children in Utah have had their Social Security number stolen by undocumented immigrants. give the undocumented workers a number that allows them to work, similar to how the IRS gives them ITIN numbers (in place of Social Security numbers) so they can file a tax return. A bill proposed by State Senator Luz Robles and State Representative Jeremy Peterson, which would give undocumented workers in Utah a permit number to work legally in the state, would take care of identity theft among undocumented workers in one fell swoop. Moreover, it would eliminate a large portion of human smuggling because most migrant workers could come here legally. While nobody can deny that this is a crime, and that it has adverse affects on citizens in Utah, it is a relatively easy problem to solve. All the government has to do is This report was written by Dr. Charlie V. Morgan, assistant professor of sociology at Brigham Young University, with assistance from John Cutler. 10 How Much Crime Do Undocumented Immigrants Commit in Utah? Copyright 2011 Sutherland Institute

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