WASHINGTON, D.C, – Today, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel urging the Department of Justice and the FBI to improve data collection on crimes committed by illegal immigrants and other aliens. The letter calls for the FBI to ask local law enforcement to report the immigration status and national origin of arrestees in its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
In part, the letter reads:
“The United States has a serious and growing problem with immigrant crime. Of course, every person who enters the United States illegally commits a crime. But those who cross our borders are increasingly likely to threaten the lives and safety of American citizens. The Biden administration allowed half a million illegal aliens with criminal histories to roam in American communities. The previous administration also abused programs like Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole to give cartel members and terrorists the guise of legality.
Even though many individuals entering the country have a violent past, critical gaps in crime data reporting keep the American people from understanding when and how often these individuals and other aliens commit crimes once they are here. The Bureau of Prisons and United States Sentencing Commission track the national origin of federal offenders, but the overwhelming majority of crime happens at the state and local level. Most violent crimes, most property crimes, and many drug offenses fall under local jurisdiction.”
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Click here to see the full letter or see text below:
Dear Attorney General Bondi and Director Patel:
I write to request that you help strengthen the collection of data related to immigrant crimes. The murders of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray are among the horrific crimes committed by illegal aliens, but they are far from the only ones. As mass migration becomes a public safety hazard, the federal government should help the American people understand exactly how many crimes are being committed by aliens.
The United States has a serious and growing problem with immigrant crime. Of course, every person who enters the United States illegally commits a crime. But those who cross our borders are increasingly likely to threaten the lives and safety of American citizens. The Biden administration allowed half a million illegal aliens with criminal histories to roam in American communities. The previous administration also abused programs like Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole to give cartel members and terrorists the guise of legality.
Even though many individuals entering the country have a violent past, critical gaps in crime data reporting keep the American people from understanding when and how often these individuals and other aliens commit crimes once they are here. The Bureau of Prisons and United States Sentencing Commission track the national origin of federal offenders, but the overwhelming majority of crime happens at the state and local level. Most violent crimes, most property crimes, and many drug offenses fall under local jurisdiction.
The responsibility for reporting the citizenship status of offenders falls largely on states and localities—but they generally do not track this data.
The Department of Justice collects some aggregate statistics about the citizenship of state prison populations. These statistics, however, do not distinguish between noncitizens with legal status and noncitizens who are in the country unlawfully or through programs like TPS. They also generally leave out offenders in local jails, who make up about one-third of the inmate population.
In line with President Trump’s recent directive to increase “collection, distribution, and uniformity of crime data,” the DOJ and FBI can help strengthen data about immigrant crime. The FBI standardizes local crime data reporting through its National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Local law enforcement report criminal incidents using data set by NIBRS, including demographic information about arrestees. NIBRS does not require law enforcement to collect an arrestee’s immigration status or national origin, and only includes ethnicity as an optional element.
Most states and localities participate in NIBRS, so requiring information about an arrestee’s immigration status, national origin, and ethnicity would encourage local jurisdictions to collect it.
Ultimately, this data would put information about the public safety risks of immigration in the hands of those who govern it. Any crime committed by an illegal alien is one crime too many, but the American people and their elected representatives deserve to know how many of these crimes are happening, and to set immigration policy accordingly.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter, and thank you for your efforts to make America safe again.
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