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Data on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants differs from Trump's narrative

President Trump used cases of crimes committed by immigrants to make his case for a border wall.

The country is deep into a partial government shutdown, and in his speech to the nation, President Trump made his case to get funding to build a wall across the southern border.

In his address from the White House Oval Office, the president made reference to multiple cases of immigrants allegedly committing crimes against citizens, including a local case from Clayton County.

In it, a suspect, Christian Ponce Martinez from Mexico, was arrested and charged for murder after allegedly dismembering his 77-year-old neighbor

Trump used the case as an example of what he calls a “crisis on the border," and claimed Ponce Martinez was here in the United States illegally, although 11Alive could only confirm the suspect is being held at Clayton County Jail without bond on an ICE hold

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11Alive's Elwyn Lopez spoke to an immigration attorney who said using examples of immigrants committing crimes to make the case for a wall is scapegoating. 

"It's basically a way to blame all immigrants for the problems of a very, very few," Sarah Owings said. 

Libertarian think tank, Cato Institute, also concluded there is a higher rate of natural-born U.S citizens behind bars than undocumented immigrants. The study shows 1.53 percent of natural-born citizens are incarcerated in comparison to 0.85 percent of immigrants here unlawfully. 

Credit: TEGNA
Cato Institute data on immigration.

As for the the number of immigrants here illegally, the non-partisan Pew Research Center stated that the number is at its lowest level in more than a decade. The research shows the last time it was this low was 2004. And those from Mexico here unlawfully are decreasing, as well, according to research based on government data from 2016. Now, most of them are legal residents. 

Credit: tegna
Pew Research data on immigration

Overstayed visas are considered one of the top ways people stay in the country illegally. And the highest number of visa over-stayers - they came from Canada, then followed by Mexico and Brazil, according to Pew. 

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