There’s no evidence of a “migrant crime wave” in New York City despite high-profile incidents over the past few weeks, according to Daniel Stageman, director of research operations at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. And if southern border arrivals contribute to an uptick in crime, migrants may be the victims, not the perpetrators.
“They are often moving in fairly desperate conditions; they don’t have access to housing; they don’t have access to stable, legitimate [and] legal employment,” said Stageman. “They often don’t have access to the social or cultural resources that will help them avoid victimization. And they are often seen as easy targets by criminals. And then there are also a number of crime types that you’re going to see migrants are hugely disproportionately represented [in]…like wage theft.”
Historically, southern border migrants consistently contribute to crime less than the average American, said Stageman. He pointed to work as the headlining factor, with many new arrivals coming to the U.S. for a job so they can send money back home to family.
“The only caveat I would put is that folks who are making their living in criminal participation at home are likely to continue that pattern wherever they’ve migrated to,” said Stageman. “There’s always, with any immigration wave, some degree of transnational criminality. But we…don’t see that increasing crime rates. Statistically, we don’t see that right now. The narrative that’s out there is not consistent with the recent drop in crime rates in the city.”
Such public safety concerns surfaced last week in Harlem during a forum at the St. Nicholas Houses after rumors that a shelter converted from an abandoned luxury development could house migrants. Some mentioned conflict between newly arrived young men and neighborhood youth. Others expressed frustration over the lack of resources and services for the historically Black neighborhood’s long-time residents.
Mayor Eric Adams, who attended the meeting unexpectedly, pushed back on the “crime wave” narrative. He said his trip to Latin America last year provided him a better understanding of who the migrants were and credited immigrants for holding down the city as hospital workers and delivery drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These are migrants and asylum seekers [who] are paroled into the country,” said Adams. “Many of them are coming now from all over the globe…these are professionals that are coming here. They’re nurses, they’re teachers, they’re writers, they’re reporters.”
But he pushed back against a state bill preventing the shelter limits his administration imposed for migrants due to the “thousands that are coming per week.” Single adult migrants can only stay in a shelter for 30 days and families can stay for 60 days.
Service providers say they often need more time to connect arrivals with services and that without access to employment, migrants are more likely to participate in “subsistence criminality” to stay afloat in New York City.
In a comment by email, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who introduced the bill, called the decision to limit shelter stays both “arbitrary” and “cruel.”
“While we hope families can find housing outside of the shelter system in 60 days, we know that that timeline is not always possible and this rule makes it harder, not easier, for families to ultimately leave the shelter system with a more secure housing option,” he added.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.