A new report written by Crime Prevention Research Center President Dr. John R. Lott based on data provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) suggests that not only have the crimes committed by illegal migrants cost U.S. taxpayers at least $166.5 billion, but the severity of those crimes is much higher than American norms.
Earlier this year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) revealed in a letter to U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23) that as of July 21, 2024, there are 662,566 illegal migrants with criminal histories on the Non-Detained Docket, meaning they are freely living in the United States.
Within this subset of 662,566 illegal border crossers, a total of 435,719 on the docket – more than 65 percent – are documented to have criminal convictions in their home countries while another 226,847 have pending criminal charges.
Out of the total crimes committed by the migrants on the docket, 14,944 – or 2.25 percent – are homicides; 20,061 are sexual assaults, 105,146 are assaults, 126,343 are traffic offenses, and 60,268 are burglaries, larcenies, or robberies.
FBI crime statistics show that in 2023 in the United States, about 0.16 percent of reported crimes were for homicide/non-negligent manslaughter – meaning that the rate of convicted killers in the Non-Detained Docket alone is more than 13 times that of the rate of reported homicides when compared to American crimes.
Lott’s report in RealClear Investigations noted that the 662,566 migrants on the Non-Detained docket make up just 9 percent of the estimated total of 7.4 million illegal migrants that have been released into the U.S. “These criminals disproportionately entered the U.S. during the Biden administration,” he wrote.
The financial cost of crimes committed by the illegal aliens on the docket is estimated at $166.5 billion, with the largest share of $153.8 billion coming from murder, according to Lott’s report which reviewed cost estimates for each crime.
The estimated financial figure, Lott’s report notes, factors in “medical care/ambulances, mental health care, police/fire service costs, social/victim services, property loss/damage, reduced productivity (at work, home, and school), and nonmonetary losses (fear, pain, suffering, and lost quality of life).”
Lott’s analysis concludes that the estimated financial cost of illegal migrant crime may be much more, considering many crimes – including kidnapping, embezzlement, extortion, smuggling, weapon offenses, and traffic offenses – do not have cost estimates.
“The estimate of over $160 billion in costs from criminal illegal aliens is very likely an underestimate of the true costs. It assumes the average criminal coming into the country commits only one offense similar to what he committed in his home country. We are also not counting the costs of half of criminal illegal aliens,” Lott wrote.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
