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NEGATIVE Immigration 118th Congress

H.R.5283 Protecting Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act

Prohibits the use of federal land for housing migrants at the southern border (118th Congress)

View on Congress.gov

Legal & Constitutional Grounding

Immigrants are incarcerated at half the native-born rate (Cato); bill's security premise contradicts empirical evidence.

Cato Institute (2024) — undocumented immigrant incarceration rate is 613 per 100,000 vs. 1,221 per 100,000 for native-born Americans; immigrants commit crimes at significantly lower rates
  • Light, He & Robey, PNAS (Dec. 2020) — native-born Texans 2x more likely arrested for violent crimes, 2.5x for drug crimes, 4x for property crimes vs. undocumented immigrants
  • Abramitzky et al., AER: Insights (2024) — immigrants 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born; gap persisted for 150 years
  • Migration Policy Institute (2024) — comprehensive review confirms immigrants (documented and undocumented) are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens

Prohibits use of federal land (NPS, BLM, Forest Service) for housing migrants at the southern border. Restricting emergency shelter options on federal land limits humanitarian response capacity without providing alternative solutions.