Interesting article released from The Hill by authors Nazgol Ghandnoosh and Alex Nowrasteh claims that recent research shows that immigrants—regardless of legal status—commit property and violent crimes at lower rates than native-born citizens.

This research, conducted independently by The Sentencing Project and the Cato Institute, used different methods but arrived at the same conclusion: Immigrants are less crime-prone than native-born citizens.

Overall, non-citizens are actually slightly underrepresented in prisons, comprising six percent of the prison population compared to their seven percent of the total U.S. population.

“Effectively addressing violent and property crime requires approaching the problem with both eyes open and without fear of the facts. Law enforcement has scarce resources. Sending them on wild goose chases to round up undocumented immigrants will only deter those individuals and those close to them from reporting crimes and cooperating with investigations.”

Nazgol Ghandnoosh is a research analyst at The Sentencing Project and the co-author of the report Immigration and Public Safety. Alex Nowrasteh is an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute and a co-author of the report Criminal Immigrants: Their Numbers, Demographics, and Countries of Origin.

My opinion? This certainly is a highly politicized and hot-button topic. Hopefully, we’ll all arrive at solutions which do not unlawfully violate people’s constitutional rights, regardless of their immigration status.

Please contact my office if you, a friend or family member are charged with a crime; regardless of immigration status. Hiring a knowledgeable, effective and experienced criminal defense attorney is the first step toward getting justice in our courts.