Rubin: Refugees up, crime down in Southfield, elsewhere

Southfield has embraced 4,478 refugees across a 10-year span, and in that same period, its rates of violent crime and property crime have plummeted.

No one is claiming a cause and effect. Across the same decade, from 2006-15, Southfield most likely embraced more cellphones and Netflix memberships, too.

What’s interesting is that of the 10 cities that received the most refugees relative to their size, nine saw a drop in crime. So while you can’t claim that more refugees equals fewer assaults and purse snatchings, the Partnership for a New American Economy will tell you they don’t lead to more.

The partnership, known to its friends as NAE, is a group of more than 500 mayors and business leaders from across the political panorama. Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch is a co-chair, as are New York’s Michael Bloomberg and San Antonio’s Julian Castro.

The NAE, which is fond of both numbers and immigration, assembled data from the state department and the FBI and released its study Tuesday.

“Given the current political debate,” said spokeswoman Sarah Doolin Roy in an email, the NAE’s research department felt its findings on refugees and crime “might be relevant to the discussion.”

Read the full article: “Rubin: Refugees up, crime down in Southfield, elsewhere”
Related NAE Research: Is There a Link Between Refugees and U.S. Crime Rates?