During last week's Republican National Convention, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Americans are not safe due to immigrants committing violent crimes.

That's just one claim being challenged by leading immigration experts.

Nancy Foner, Ph.D., professor of Sociology at City University of New York's Hunter College, said labeling immigrants as criminals is an old, but persistent, myth.

She pointed to data showing that the vast majority of immigrants are not violent criminals.

"The foreign born, in fact, are much less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes," said Foner. "And in fact, cities and neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have much lower crime and violence than comparable non-immigrant neighborhoods."

Immigrants were also blamed for smuggling fentanyl across the 2,000-mile southern border.

But according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 90% of the drugs linked to overdose deaths are smuggled by U.S. citizens through legal ports of entry.

Cruz also said immigrants were being allowed into the U.S. to vote in the upcoming elections - a conspiracy theory about something that never, or almost never, happens.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, pointed out that non-citizens are not legally allowed to vote in federal elections, and don't in part because they could be immediately deported if caught.

"To cast one ballot in an election in which 160 million ballots are going to be cast, it happens exceedingly rarely," said Becker, "largely because the states and federal government already have really good policies in place."

Others claimed immigrants were "receiving welfare."

Pia Orrenius, vice president and senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said immigrants are not eligible for the SNAP program (formerly known as food stamps), Social Security or other benefits - although they do pay payroll and other taxes that fund those programs.

She said immigrants actually strengthen America's economy, but local governments can feel squeezed if immigrants earn low wages.

"That negative impact, it mostly comes from education," said Orrenius. "K-12 education is expensive. The spending on education is an investment. Those investments are going to pay back many times what's invested."



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Immigration and deportation are key topics in this week's Tennessee legislative session, and a local nonprofit group is helping residents prepare for possible deportation.

Nationwide, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports more than 900 arrests since the Trump administration has started following through on its promise of a "mass deportation."

Luis Mata, a communications officer for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, called for immigration reform while criticizing President Donald Trump's immigration executive order that expands detention. He added that they are helping Tennessee's 400,000 immigrants prepare, not panic.

"Communities across the state are prepared to protect ourselves and our families," he said, "and we're doing that through continuing to build our robust network of organizations, community leaders, community members, who are ready to step up and make sure that we all have what we need to build the good life and to live up to Tennessee values."

Gov. Bill Lee has proposed strengthening immigration enforcement across Tennessee by creating a new division within the Department of Safety, supporting local law enforcement participation in federal programs and considering state-issued IDs.

Mata argued that mass deportation would lead to labor shortages and hurt businesses already struggling to build a reliable workforce.

"Immigrants are deeply rooted in Tennessee and our communities," he said. "We are part of not just the social and cultural fabric of the state and country, but equally importantly, we are part of the fabric that makes our economy thrive."

The Trump administration has issued an executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants born in the United States. Several states are suing over the issue; Tennessee isn't one of them.

Mata said eliminating birthright citizenship would violate the Constitution.

"Birthright citizenship has been protected by the 14th Amendment for over 150 years," he said. "And what it is, it's a simple standard of determining who is American without the color of your skin, without ancestry, racialized citizenship is a thing of the past, and should remain that way."


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A new report found New York State will face massive economic and fiscal effects from mass deportations.

The report showed industries such as hospitality, child care, farming and construction will face workforce shortages due to mass deportations. It noted New York will lose out on more than $3 billion in taxes from undocumented immigrants.

David Dyssegaard Kallick, director of the Immigration Research Initiative, said there are ways the state can reduce the harsh impacts.

"The state doesn't need to be part of the enforcement of federal immigration laws," Kallick pointed out. "It's very important for the state to say, 'We're not going to allow city and state law enforcement agents to get drawn into this process of detaining people for immigration or turning people over to ICE and immigration authorities.'"

Although President Donald Trump is determined to carry out mass deportations, there has been little evidence of their benefits. The report indicated giving undocumented immigrants a path to legal status would increase local and state tax revenue by $900 million. Another effect mass deportations would have is population loss for upstate New York municipalities, reversing economic gains made in recent years.

Carrying out mass deportations may present logistic challenges but even losing a small portion of New York's undocumented population comes with economic consequences, such as higher living costs for all New Yorkers.

Emily Eisner, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, said the state cannot handle losing so many workers.

"We might see fewer child care facilities offering fewer spots for kids, or we might see reductions in how many older adults or disabled adults can get home health care," Eisner emphasized. "Which will then place burden on family members in both of those cases."

She added the construction industry would face similar challenges with costs rising and fewer projects being completed and mass deportations would only exacerbate the state's ongoing housing and child care shortages.

Small businesses would be affected too, because 1 million undocumented immigrants nationally run businesses, which generated more than $27 billion in 2022.


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The mass deportation plan promised by President Donald Trump shows no signs of slowing down after his first week back in office.

Church leaders in Minnesota and elsewhere renewed their calls for places of worship to be off limits. A key difference between ICE raids under the new administration and those in Trump's first term is that a rule was revoked this month to no longer consider churches and schools "sensitive locations." From 2011 until now, they were largely shielded from agents entering the site in pursuit of an undocumented person.

Nicholas Tangen, assistant to the bishop for the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which supports local Lutheran parishes, worries about the potential effect on congregations.

"It may have a really chilling effect for folks in our communities, not just Christians, but folks of all faith backgrounds," Tangen explained. "(It) might prevent folks from attending religious services or going to places of worship; places where they've found comfort and safety and community for so long."

Tangen echoed arguments about the trauma families might experience when a relative is detained in these settings. For now, his team is trying to limit false rumors while reminding congregants about their rights. ICE agents still need a judicial warrant before entering a private area of a church. The Department of Homeland Security emphasized enforcement teams are being trusted to use common sense.

Lutheran church leaders said they remain committed to supporting migrant children and families, adding it's a long-standing Christian mindset to "welcome the stranger." Tangen added human dignity should not be lost in the broader debate over immigration policy.

"I don't think anybody should have to live in such profound fear that there are no places where they can find respite," Tangen emphasized.

Immigrant advocates also worry the scope of these deportations will deter people from getting medical care they need or kids from attending school. In a statement announcing the rule changes, DHS officials noted they are empowering agents to enforce immigration laws and "catch criminal aliens - including murderers and rapists - who have illegally come into our country."


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