Donald Trump may link immigration to violent crime more effectively than any American politician before him, but he’s hardly the first to promote the unfounded narrative. Historians go back to at least the 1850s when German and Irish immigrants were targeted. An undercurrent of popular belief that immigrants breed crime persisted through the 20th century and into the 21st. But no one has succeeded like Trump, who will accept the Republican presidential nomination for a third time this week. The weight of evidence shows no support for claims that immigrants are more responsible for crime than native-born Americans.
