[News] Venezuelan emigration does not increase crime in Latin America, according to a study

[Dr.Drako]

 

The study, prepared by the Migration Policy Institute study centers, was carried out with data from the three countries that host the largest number of Venezuelans: Colombia, Peru and Chile.
The migration of millions of Venezuelans has not led to an increase in crime in Latin American host countries, according to a new study published Monday that debunks a widespread misperception in some sectors.

The analysis, prepared by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and the Brookings Institution, based in Washington, ensures that the ideas that the 4.2 million Venezuelan emigrants and refugees are increasing crime rates in other countries "They are largely unfounded."
The study was conducted with data from the three countries that host the largest number of Venezuelans: Colombia, Peru and Chile. The researchers found that in Peru and Chile, Venezuelan migrants commit crimes at substantially lower levels in proportion to local po[CENSORED]tions, although in Colombia "the evidence is more varied."

In the latter country, Venezuelans commit violent crimes at a lower proportional rate, and their "slightly higher participation in non-violent crimes" could be due to the high unemployment of migrants and the existence of smuggling networks in border areas, where they are reported. mostly, according to the study.

Specifically, 2.3% of arrests for violent crimes in Colombia in 2019 involved Venezuelans, who represent 3.2% of the country's total po[CENSORED]tion.
Likewise, of all the arrests, 5.4% were of Venezuelans, perhaps as a reflection of the fact that the regions where they were responsible for a higher proportion of crimes, and where they faced higher unemployment rates, are mainly found along the the border with Venezuela, the study highlighted.

This supports the idea that "giving migrants and refugees formal access to the labor market can reduce the incidence of crime," the study said.

In Chile, the work says, only 0.7% of the people accused of a crime in 2019 were Venezuelans, representing 2.4% of the po[CENSORED]tion in that country.

Likewise, according to 2019 incarceration data, in Peru 1.3% of prisoners are foreigners, including Venezuelans, who represent 2.9% of the country's total po[CENSORED]tion.

Even though opinion polls show that Colombians and Peruvians regularly point to crime as one of the reasons why they are most uncomfortable with migration from Venezuela, the study authors consider these perceptions "out of place."

"The results of this study serve as robust evidence that the presence of Venezuelan immigrants is not generating a systematic increase in crime in the region, certainly not in the three countries that have received the highest number of Venezuelan immigrants and