Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)of Connecticut stated on Monday that it was “important to push back” against the “narrative” suggesting a “migrant crime wave,” despite the widespread public focus on recent high-profile murders involving illegal immigrants.

https://x.com/HaroldHutchison/status/1828214233974157372

Illegal immigration has become a key issue in the 2024 presidential campaign, especially following a series of crimes committed by illegal immigrants, including the murders of Rachel Morin, Laken Riley, and Jocelyn Nungaray, which have drawn public attention. Murphy argued that statistics showed immigrants commit crimes less frequently than American citizens.

“You don’t have to feed into the irrational fear that Trump is trying to make people feel. And it is important to push back on this idea of a migrant crime wave,” Murphy told MSNBC host Chris Jansing. “We don’t have to accept that as the dominant narrative. Why? Because the data actually tells us that immigrants to this country commit crimes at a rate lower than natural-born Americans. Now, that is an inconvenient narrative for Fox News and for the Trump campaign, but it is true. I think we have a moral obligation, as well as a political obligation, to push back against this idea that you are at risk if you live in a community with more migrants.”

The mothers of Morin and Nungaray spoke at a Trump campaign event on Thursday, which focused on Trump’s stance on border security. The alleged killers of Morin, Riley, and Nungaray have been identified as illegal immigrants who were allowed into the United States during the Biden administration.

“And then we also just have to tell people that crime went up when Donald Trump was president. He did nothing to stop it,” Murphy claimed. “Crime is going down under Joe Biden, and he did something to stop it. He passed the most significant anti-gun violence bill in a generation. So again, we have true narratives available to us.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that the Border Patrol has encountered nearly 7.3 million illegal immigrants since the beginning of fiscal year 2021.