People sometimes say "If illegal immigrants weren't here, we would have zero of their crimes." This is a flawed argument, but I think sometimes people botch the rebuttal. So, here goes:
When you move to a city, do you care about the absolute number of murders or the rate of murders? I say if you're being reasonable, it's the rate.
For instance, there are about 5 homicides per 100,000 residents in Salt Lake City, and it's generally not perceived as a dangerous town.
However, if you went to a city of 50 and they had a *total* of 5 homicides per year, you probably wouldn't even stop there for gasoline.
However, if you went to a city of 50 and they had a *total* of 5 homicides per year, you probably wouldn't even stop there for gasoline.
In other words, the rate tells you whether you are safe walking down the street. The absolute quantity tells you nothing of the sort.
This matters for immigration because if immigrants have the same (or lower) rate of crime as native-born Americans, they will not alter the fundamental question, which is how at-risk you are.
That is, if Immigrant Population A has a homicide rate of 5 per 100,000, and they all move to Salt Lake City, they will not affect your risk of murder while walking around Salt Lake City. The rate matters. The absolute quantity does not.
Additionally, if "they might commit any amount of crimes" is your argument, it's a good argument against literally everyone (including babies). If we removed 99% of humans from New York, there would be fewer total homicides in that area. But you still would not be safer.
In short - whereas the data we have says immigrants are as safe or SAFER than native-born Americans, crime rates are not a good argument against increased immigration.
