Illegal Border Crossings Today:

Sanctuary City Chicago Sees 11,000% Increase in Arrests of Venezuelans Since Border Crisis Began

Chicago Crime

A common argument by the open-borders lobby is that there is no connection between illegal immigrants and crime. Those people first miss the fundamental fact that illegal immigrants broke American immigration law when they came into the country illegally. It also ignores the fact that any crime committed by an illegal alien is one that could have been avoided if our immigration laws were being enforced.

In the sanctuary city of Chicago, more than 21,000 primarily Venezuelan migrants have arrived since the summer of 2022. The 21,000 consists of those who have crossed the border illegally and those whom the Biden administration has let into the interior of the United States, largely through their rampant and illegal abuse of parole authority.

The Venezuelan migrants in Chicago have shattered the narrative pushed by the open-borders lobby that there is no connection between the border crisis and crime. According to police data obtained by CWBChicago, there were just six arrests of Venezuelan-born people in 2021 and 26 in 2022. Now, as of November 12 this year, Chicago PD has arrested 686 Venezuelans, representing an 11,333% increase over 2021.

2023’s numbers are only through November 12, leaving the second half of November and the entire month of December to add to the 686 arrests.

Here is a sampling of just some of the crimes the Venezuelan migrants are accused of committing:

  • Two migrants got into an argument outside a city shelter, resulting in one allegedly shooting the other.
  • Police say one migrant robbed a citizen of a bike and then was released from custody the next day to await trial. The migrant was a resident of a migrant shelter.
  • A Chicago police station serving as a migrant shelter had one migrant allegedly stab another over the cleanliness of the bathroom.
  • A migrant was accused of trying to steal $3,100 worth of goods from a Macy’s flagship store. 
  • The city opened a migrant shelter just blocks from the Macy’s, resulting in at least 50 arrests of Venezuelans for allegedly shoplifting at the store.
  • 38 Venezuelans have been arrested for allegedly shoplifting at a Nordstrom Rack; that’s just the number so far this year.

These crimes would not have happened if these people had not entered the United States. These crimes burden the citizens of Chicago, the police department and the businesses that lose money from shoplifting. And these are only Venezuelan-born migrants, not the countless other countries migrants are from.

FAIR’s cost study found illegal immigrants force taxpayers to shell out $601.4 million in police, legal and correction costs, and, overall, illegal immigration costs Illinois taxpayers $3.9 billion annually.

Don’t buy the open-borders fallacy. Illegal immigration, by its very nature is a crime, and that disrespect for laws is often responsible for more crime. It is also a burden American citizens should not have to carry.