Abbott ties immigrants to crime days after Biden southern border move

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) rolled out a “most wanted” list of criminal immigrants on Wednesday, a day after President Biden announced a new federal crackdown on asylum as part of an effort to portray Republicans as all-bark-no-bite on border policy.

The list is Abbott’s latest effort to tie immigration to increased criminality — a link that has been widely debunked — and to further a Republican claim that increased immigration is solely Biden’s doing.

“When President Joe Biden took office, he dismantled every effective border policy his predecessor put into place,” Abbott said in a statement.

“As a result, we have seen record high levels of illegal immigration, including dangerous criminals and terrorists who are a threat to the public safety of our state and our nation. These illegal immigrants will now be spotlighted on our 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants List.”

Texas Democrats and immigration advocates decried the list as a political ploy and a dangerous generalization.

“The first thing that people should actually think they hear when they see another stunt like this from Abbott, is what is he trying to cover up? What is he trying to have us pay attention to?” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said.

“Because obviously, people who have been convicted of horrible crimes should be held accountable, and it’s up to law enforcement to detain them and punish them, right? Well, why is it that the governor of Texas has decided to have a whole political stance around something that law enforcement is already, you know, in cases where law enforcement already on the case?”

Abbott’s list, developed with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), comprises 10 Hispanic men, a majority of whom are wanted for crimes involving sexual misconduct.

“We would expect that where people commit acts of this nature, that they face punishment. But does that mean we should talk about those acts and publicize them in a way that demonizes and criminalizes thousands of other immigrants, many of whom are serving our country in our communities and raising their families?” asked Nayna Gupta, associate director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

“No, of course not. That’s a political game, and Americans are smart enough to know the difference.”

But DPS Safety Director Steve McGraw made a distinction between home-grown criminals and foreign-born ones.

“Criminals from around the world who enter the United States illegally and commit crimes in Texas are a threat to public safety,” McCraw said in a statement.

“Individuals on Texas’ 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants List are likely to commit other crimes, and DPS is enlisting the public’s help in apprehending these offenders before they commit additional crimes. I thank Governor Abbott and Texas Crime Stoppers for their partnership in launching this important program.”

Most scientific research on the connection between immigration and crime has found a negative correlation — that is, immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, so their presence in communities tends to drive down overall crime rates.

The seminal study on that correlation was performed by the Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh using DPS data, in part because Texas records immigration status in arrests.

Though that study focused on homicide conviction rates, a 2021 study of DPS data by Nowrasteh found that immigrants — documented and undocumented — also had lower sex crime conviction rates in 2019.

Immigration has become a top political issue in 2024, and Abbott has sought to expand Texas’s role in immigration enforcement, butting heads with the Biden administration over jurisdictional issues.

Advocates have warned that actions such as Abbott’s could fuel violent acts by individuals who buy into the link between crime and immigration, such as the shooter who in 2019 killed 23 people in an El Paso Walmart, citing xenophobic sentiment as his prime motivator.

And Texas Democrats say the focus on that debunked connection is distracting from other law enforcement priorities.

“Governor Abbott has a long record of fearmongering about immigrants to distract from his failures as governor. His administration has left thousands of rape kits untested and gun deaths have surged on his watch. We’ve seen him fail Texans again and again when we needed leadership the most – from the blackouts during Winter Storm Uri to the abuses in our foster care system and the cover-up after Uvalde,” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said.

“This list is nothing more than the governor’s latest political stunt to distract from what he isn’t doing for the people of Texas.”