Crime · United States · Updated 2026-10-26

Are immigrants in the US incarcerated or convicted more or less often than US-born people?

Immigrant men aged 18–40 were incarcerated at 0.43 (2015–2019) to 0.46 (2024) times the rate of US-born men, measured as living in an institution; in Texas, the Cato Institute counts 685 people convicted of a crime a year per 100,000 undocumented immigrants in 2013–2022, against 551 for legal immigrants and 1,321 for native-born people, while for homicide Cato puts undocumented immigrants at 0.64 times the native-born rate (2022) and the Center for Immigration Studies at 1.13 times the rate for all Texas residents (2019).

Every figure in this summary is calculated from the sources listed on this page.

Incarceration rate of immigrant men aged 18–40 relative to US-born men

Share of foreign-born men aged 18–40 who live in an institution (prisons, jails, immigration detention and, rarely at these ages, other institutions such as psychiatric hospitals) divided by the same share for US-born men. Below 1 means a lower rate among immigrants.. United States, Latest year available: 2015–2019 (paper) and 2024 (Census Bureau microdata). Unit: ratio (immigrant rate ÷ US-born rate).

0.46ratio (immigrant rate ÷ US-born rate), 2024

88Trust scoreHigh certainty

Quality40 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement26.1 / 30: How close the sources are to each other
Independence12 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness10 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How much each source counts

Abramitzky29%
Census ACS71%

Sources

Source	Value	Definition	Quality	Weight
Abramitzky, Boustan, Jácome, Pérez and Torres, "Law-Abiding Immigrants" (AER: Insights 2024; NBER working paper 31440)American Economic Association (American Economic Review: Insights) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	0.432019	Men aged 18–40 living in institutional group quarters, per 100,000, from the 2015–2019 American Community Survey five-year sample: 1,203 per 100,000 immigrants and 2,790 per 100,000 US-born men; ratio calculated here. Immigrants are men born outside the United States; men born in US territories or abroad to US citizens are left out. Supplemental appendix, PDF page 32, Table A2, rates for US-born men and all immigrants (the row labelled 2019 is the 2015–2019 five-year sample). The abstract rounds the gap to "60 percent less likely". The paper reports that 96% of institutionalised people aged 18–44 were incarcerated in 2019. The chart shows the ratio for every census year in Table A2 except 1950, which the paper flags as based on fewer than 10,000 immigrants.	5 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The paper and appendix define the sample, the institutional measure and every data source. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Peer-reviewed: published in American Economic Review: Insights, December 2024. Yes: Full count or representative sample. The ACS five-year sample covers about 5% of the population, including people in group quarters. Yes: Raw data downloadable. The ACS microdata are a free Census Bureau download; the authors' code is in an openICPSR replication package. Yes: No known break or quality problem. One measure (people in institutional group quarters) for the whole 2015–2019 sample; the paper leaves out the 2000 Census because of mismeasurement.	29%
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year microdata (PUMS)US Census Bureau (ratio calculated by RealStats) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	0.462024	Same definition as the paper: weighted share of men aged 18–40 in the institutionalised group quarters population, 926 per 100,000 immigrants (naturalised citizens and non-citizens) and 2,020 per 100,000 men born in a US state. The public file does not say which kind of institution a person lives in. Person files psam_pusa.csv and psam_pusb.csv in csv_pus.zip; SEX 1, AGEP 18–40, RELSHIPP 37 (institutionalised group quarters), CIT 1 (US-born) against CIT 4 and 5 (immigrants), person weight PWGTP. Unweighted records: 411,988 US-born men (19,156 institutionalised) and 61,709 immigrant men (1,473 institutionalised). Documentation: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/microdata/documentation.html.	5 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The Census Bureau publishes the PUMS documentation and its group quarters definitions. Yes: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Official statistics from the US Census Bureau; the ratio is a weighted tabulation done here. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Representative sample of about 1% of the population, including group quarters (473,697 men aged 18–40 in the file). Yes: Raw data downloadable. The full person file is a free download from the Census Bureau. Yes: No known break or quality problem. 2024 is a regular ACS year; the experimental weighting used for 2020 does not apply.	71%

Incarceration rate of immigrant men aged 18–40 relative to US-born men, by source · ratio (immigrant rate ÷ US-born rate)

Abramitzky, Boustan, Jácome, Pérez and Torres, "Law-Abiding Immigrants" (AER: Insights 2024; NBER working paper 31440)
US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year microdata (PUMS)

Show the data as a table

Year	Abramitzky, Boustan, Jácome, Pérez and Torres, "Law-Abiding Immigrants" (AER: Insights 2024; NBER working paper 31440)	US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year microdata (PUMS)
1870	1.05	–
1880	0.77	–
1900	0.67	–
1910	0.67	–
1920	0.84	–
1930	0.64	–
1940	0.65	–
1960	0.33	–
1970	0.33	–
1980	0.36	–
1990	0.49	–
2010	0.5	–
2019	0.43	–
2024	–	0.46

Texas: criminal conviction rate of undocumented immigrants

People identified as undocumented immigrants who were convicted of any crime, per 100,000 undocumented immigrants living in Texas. Texas, United States, 2013–2022, yearly average (latest period analysed). Unit: people convicted per 100,000 a year.

685people convicted per 100,000 a year, 2022

44Trust scoreLow certainty

Only one source – not confirmed by others. Agreement can't be measured, so the score can't reach High.

Quality16 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement15 / 30: Unknown with one source, so set to half
Independence6 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness7 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How much each source counts

Cato100%

Sources

Source	Value	Definition	Quality	Weight
Cato Institute, Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022 (Policy Analysis 977)Cato Institute (Alex Nowrasteh) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	6852022	People convicted of any crime in Texas, by year of arrest, per 100,000 undocumented immigrants living in Texas; average of the yearly rates for 2013–2022. Status comes from Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) records of federal fingerprint checks at booking and of later identification in state prison; Cato counts DPS's "unknown or other" group as native-born. Population sizes are Cato's estimates from the American Community Survey, using a modified version of Christian Gunadi's method to separate legal and undocumented immigrants. PDF page 6 and Figure 4 (PDF page 7): 145,254 undocumented immigrants convicted in 2013–2022. Only the ten-year average is printed; the yearly values appear only in a chart. cato.org blocked every request from here, so the identical PDF was read from the Internet Archive capture (https://web.archive.org/web/20260713151440/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-06/Policy-Analysis-977-new-release-date.pdf).	2 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The paper describes the DPS data request, how status is assigned and how each population was estimated. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Think-tank policy analysis; not peer-reviewed and not official statistics. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Counts every person convicted in the DPS records for 2013–2022, not a sample. No: Raw data downloadable. The DPS extract came from a public-records request and is not posted for download. No: No known break or quality problem. Cato itself warns that the all-crime figures are less reliable than homicide, because Texas investigates the immigration status of people convicted of lesser crimes far less; DPS's "unknown or other" group, counted here as native-born, can include immigrants not yet identified.	100%

Texas: criminal conviction rate of legal immigrants

Legal immigrants (including naturalised citizens) convicted of any crime, per 100,000 legal immigrants living in Texas. Texas, United States, 2013–2022, yearly average (latest period analysed). Unit: people convicted per 100,000 a year.

551people convicted per 100,000 a year, 2022

44Trust scoreLow certainty

Only one source – not confirmed by others. Agreement can't be measured, so the score can't reach High.

Quality16 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement15 / 30: Unknown with one source, so set to half
Independence6 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness7 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How much each source counts

Cato100%

Sources

Source	Value	Definition	Quality	Weight
Cato Institute, Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022 (Policy Analysis 977)Cato Institute (Alex Nowrasteh) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	5512022	People convicted of any crime in Texas, by year of arrest, per 100,000 legal immigrants living in Texas; average of the yearly rates for 2013–2022. Status comes from Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) records of federal fingerprint checks at booking and of later identification in state prison; Cato counts DPS's "unknown or other" group as native-born. Population sizes are Cato's estimates from the American Community Survey, using a modified version of Christian Gunadi's method to separate legal and undocumented immigrants. PDF page 6 and Figure 4 (PDF page 7): 159,138 legal immigrants convicted in 2013–2022. Only the ten-year average is printed; the yearly values appear only in a chart. cato.org blocked every request from here, so the identical PDF was read from the Internet Archive capture (https://web.archive.org/web/20260713151440/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-06/Policy-Analysis-977-new-release-date.pdf).	2 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The paper describes the DPS data request, how status is assigned and how each population was estimated. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Think-tank policy analysis; not peer-reviewed and not official statistics. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Counts every person convicted in the DPS records for 2013–2022, not a sample. No: Raw data downloadable. The DPS extract came from a public-records request and is not posted for download. No: No known break or quality problem. Cato itself warns that the all-crime figures are less reliable than homicide, because Texas investigates the immigration status of people convicted of lesser crimes far less; DPS's "unknown or other" group, counted here as native-born, can include immigrants not yet identified.	100%

Texas: criminal conviction rate of native-born people

Native-born people convicted of any crime, per 100,000 native-born people living in Texas. Texas, United States, 2013–2022, yearly average (latest period analysed). Unit: people convicted per 100,000 a year.

1,321people convicted per 100,000 a year, 2022

44Trust scoreLow certainty

Only one source – not confirmed by others. Agreement can't be measured, so the score can't reach High.

Quality16 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement15 / 30: Unknown with one source, so set to half
Independence6 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness7 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How much each source counts

Cato100%

Sources

Source	Value	Definition	Quality	Weight
Cato Institute, Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022 (Policy Analysis 977)Cato Institute (Alex Nowrasteh) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	1,3212022	People convicted of any crime in Texas, by year of arrest, per 100,000 native-born people living in Texas; average of the yearly rates for 2013–2022. Status comes from Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) records of federal fingerprint checks at booking and of later identification in state prison; Cato counts DPS's "unknown or other" group as native-born. Population sizes are Cato's estimates from the American Community Survey, using a modified version of Christian Gunadi's method to separate legal and undocumented immigrants. PDF page 6 and Figure 4 (PDF page 7): 3,113,693 native-born people convicted in 2013–2022. Only the ten-year average is printed; the yearly values appear only in a chart. cato.org blocked every request from here, so the identical PDF was read from the Internet Archive capture (https://web.archive.org/web/20260713151440/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-06/Policy-Analysis-977-new-release-date.pdf).	2 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The paper describes the DPS data request, how status is assigned and how each population was estimated. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Think-tank policy analysis; not peer-reviewed and not official statistics. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Counts every person convicted in the DPS records for 2013–2022, not a sample. No: Raw data downloadable. The DPS extract came from a public-records request and is not posted for download. No: No known break or quality problem. Cato itself warns that the all-crime figures are less reliable than homicide, because Texas investigates the immigration status of people convicted of lesser crimes far less; DPS's "unknown or other" group, counted here as native-born, can include immigrants not yet identified.	100%

Texas: homicide conviction rate of undocumented immigrants relative to a comparison group

Homicide conviction rate per 100,000 undocumented immigrants divided by the rate for native-born Texans. Above 1 means a higher rate among undocumented immigrants.. Texas, United States, Latest single year each source analysed. Unit: ratio.

0.64ratio, 2022

37Trust scoreVery low certainty

Quality18.4 / 40: How well the sources are made
Agreement0 / 30: How close the sources are to each other
Independence12 / 20: How many separate ways the number was measured
Freshness7 / 10: How recent the newest data is

How much each source counts

Cato70%
CIS30%

Sources

Source	Value	Definition	Quality	Weight
Cato Institute, Illegal Immigrant Murderers in Texas, 2013–2022 (Policy Analysis 977)Cato Institute (Alex Nowrasteh) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	0.642022	Homicide conviction rate in 2022 of 3.1 per 100,000 undocumented immigrants against 4.9 per 100,000 native-born people (67 and 1,209 people convicted); Cato states the undocumented rate was 35.6% lower. Undocumented status from fingerprint checks at booking and from identification in state prison, without double counting; "unknown or other" counted as native-born. PDF pages 4–5 and Figure 2. Over 2013–2022 as a whole Cato reports 2.2 against 3.0 per 100,000 (a ratio of 0.74). The paper's 2022 count (67) and its stated 2022 population estimate (2,018,723) give 3.32 per 100,000 rather than the printed 3.1; the paper does not say which population figure its rates use. Read from the Internet Archive capture (https://web.archive.org/web/20260713151440/https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2024-06/Policy-Analysis-977-new-release-date.pdf) because cato.org blocked access.	2 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The paper describes the DPS data request, how status is assigned and how each population was estimated. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Think-tank policy analysis; not peer-reviewed and not official statistics. Yes: Full count or representative sample. Counts every person convicted of homicide in the DPS records for the year. No: Raw data downloadable. The DPS extract came from a public-records request and is not posted for download. No: No known break or quality problem. 2022 includes convictions delayed by pandemic court restrictions, which Cato calls unusual, and identification in prison for recent years may be incomplete, as CIS argues.	70%
Center for Immigration Studies, Misuse of Texas Data Understates Illegal Immigrant Criminality (Table 1)Center for Immigration Studies (Kennedy, Richwine and Camarota) · Independent countRetrieved 2026-10-26	1.132019	Homicide convictions in 2019 of people identified as undocumented, at arrest (50) or later in prison (9), per 100,000 undocumented immigrants: 3.31; divided here by CIS's rate for the whole Texas population, 2.94. CIS counts convictions, not people, and does not publish a native-born rate because it argues DPS's "unknown or other" group includes immigrants not yet identified. Population from the Center for Migration Studies. Table 1, row 2019 HOMICIDE (data requested from DPS in 2021; CIS has no population estimate for 2020). Directness 0.5: the comparison group is all Texas residents, including immigrants, not native-born people. Report: https://cis.org/Report/Misuse-Texas-Data-Understates-Illegal-Immigrant-Criminality.	3 of 5 checks Yes: Method and definitions published. The report explains the four DPS status categories, its sources and its caveats. No: Official statistics or peer-reviewed. Think-tank report; not peer-reviewed and not official statistics. Yes: Full count or representative sample. All homicide convictions in the DPS records for the year, not a sample. Yes: Raw data downloadable. CIS posts the full table of DPS counts it received as a spreadsheet. No: No known break or quality problem. CIS says counts for recent years are still too low because Texas keeps identifying people in prison; Cato says the extract CIS received double-counts some people identified both ways.	30%

Why the numbers differ

Incarceration is not the same as crime. It depends on which crimes are reported, solved and prosecuted, and on sentence length. The census measure counts everyone living in an institution on the survey date, including people held in immigration detention for immigration violations. Cato estimates that leaving out the 28,289 people in ICE detention on a given day would lower its 2023 incarceration rate for undocumented immigrants aged 18–54 from 613 to 357 per 100,000. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Legal status is hard to measure. The census asks about birthplace and citizenship, not legal status, so Cato and CIS each estimate how many undocumented immigrants live in Texas, with different methods. In the Texas records, status comes from a federal fingerprint check at booking, which only recognises people who have met immigration officials before; the prison system identifies more people later. Texas DPS reported that by 30 June 2024 it had identified 10,748 people as unlawfully present while in state prison who had not been identified at arrest. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Deportation removes some people from the data. Non-citizens deported after a sentence, or instead of one, no longer appear in US prisons or in later Texas convictions, which can lower measured rates for immigrants. Abramitzky and co-authors check this in two ways: the gap also appears among immigrants who are US citizens and cannot be deported, and it opened in the 1960s, decades before deportations rose sharply around 2000. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Cato and CIS read the same Texas records differently. DPS has no native-born category: Cato counts its "unknown or other" group as native-born, while CIS says that group also holds immigrants not yet identified and compares with all Texas residents instead. CIS adds people identified as undocumented later in prison and argues recent years remain undercounted; Cato's 2024 paper also adds them, using a data request that separates people found at arrest, in prison or both, and says the extract CIS received counts some people twice. Cato counts people convicted; CIS counts convictions. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
The same year, two readings: for homicide in 2019, Cato's earlier brief counted 42 undocumented people convicted (identified at arrest only), 2.24 per 100,000 of its population estimate of 1,871,115; CIS counted 59 convictions including those identified in prison, 3.31 per 100,000 of the Center for Migration Studies estimate (about 1,780,000). With Cato's population estimate, CIS's count gives 3.15. Calculated from Cato's brief and CIS Table 1. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
The comparison group changes the size of the gap. Abramitzky and co-authors report immigrants about 60 percent less likely to be incarcerated than all US-born men but 30 percent less likely than US-born white men, and since 2005 Mexican and Central American immigrants more likely than US-born white men, which they link largely to immigration detention. Adjusting for age, race, marital status and state leaves the gap mostly unchanged; adjusting for education widens it. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Age and facility type matter. The Census Bureau's own 2024 table B26210, for men of all ages in adult correctional facilities, gives 580 per 100,000 foreign-born men and 1,086 per 100,000 native men, a ratio of 0.53. Native men include far more boys, who are almost never in adult facilities, which lowers the native rate. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)

Common mistakes

Reading an incarceration rate as a crime rate. It counts people held in institutions on one day, including immigration detention, and reflects policing, prosecution and sentence length.
Setting Cato's and CIS's homicide figures side by side as if they measured the same thing: Cato compares undocumented immigrants with native-born people, CIS with all Texas residents, and they cover different years. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Comparing single Texas years without noting court delays: homicide convictions fell to 365 in 2020 and rose to 1,336 in 2022 as delayed cases were heard. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Treating the Texas DPS running totals of convictions of people identified as unlawfully present as a rate. They have no population and no comparison group, and they only include people already known to federal immigration authorities. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Applying the Texas results to the whole country. Texas is the only state that records immigration status in its arrest and conviction data, so no other state can be checked the same way. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)

Context

Considered, not used

Center for Immigration Studies, all-crime conviction rate: CIS does not publish one. Its report calls an all-crime conviction rate for undocumented immigrants practically meaningless, because people convicted of lesser offences are seldom identified later in prison. Its homicide figures are used instead. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Texas DPS, Texas Criminal Illegal Noncitizen Data: Gives running totals of arrests and convictions of people identified as unlawfully present, with no population or native-born comparison, so no rate can be read from it. dps.texas.gov did not respond from here on 26 October 2026; the Internet Archive copy of 12 July 2024 was read instead. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Cato Institute, Illegal Immigrant Incarceration Rates, 2010–2023 (Policy Analysis 994): Not peer-reviewed or official statistics, and it measures men and women aged 18–54 with legal status estimated by the authors, so it is shown under Context rather than as a line. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Light, He and Robey (PNAS, 2020), conviction rates: The main results are felony arrest rates; conviction rates appear only as charts in the supplement, so no value could be read. The arrest results are shown under Context. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Cato Institute, Criminal Immigrants in Texas in 2019 (brief 19): Same author and data source as the 2024 paper, which replaces it for all crimes; its figures are used in "Why the numbers differ". (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)
Abramitzky et al. replication package (openICPSR): Downloading needs an account, so it was not used; the value comes from the rates the authors print in Table A2 of the published appendix. (source, retrieved 2026-10-26)

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Cite as: RealStats, “Are immigrants in the US incarcerated or convicted more or less often than US-born people?”, updated 2026-10-26, with the original sources listed on the page.

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Are immigrants in the US incarcerated or convicted more or less often than US-born people?

Incarceration rate of immigrant men aged 18–40 relative to US-born men

Score breakdown

How much each source counts

Sources

Texas: criminal conviction rate of undocumented immigrants

Score breakdown

How much each source counts

Sources

Texas: criminal conviction rate of legal immigrants

Score breakdown

How much each source counts

Sources

Texas: criminal conviction rate of native-born people

Score breakdown

How much each source counts

Sources

Texas: homicide conviction rate of undocumented immigrants relative to a comparison group

Score breakdown

How much each source counts

Sources

Why the numbers differ

Common mistakes