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ICE, Immigrants Public Comment from Todd ClearTodd R. Clear, PhD 91 Mannington Street Kalispell, MT 59901 toddrayclear gmail.com 201-220-7032 Mr. Mayor and Kalispell City Councilors: My name is Todd Clear, and I live at 91 Mannington Street in Kalispell. I've been a Montana resident since 2019. I attended the City Council meeting of January 20, 2026. During that meeting inaccurate statements were made about ICE, crime, and immigrants. I write to correct the record. I am an academic criminologist who has just retired after over 50 years teaching and writing about justice policy. During my career, I was elected President of the American Society of Criminology and President of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. I also served as Dean of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University and retired as Distinguished University Professor at Rutgers Law School. While immigration was not a specialty of mine, I am widely read on that topic, and I am current with the most important scientific literature. (A few citations are appended to this letter.) The claim that immigrants bring crime and violence to the places they live is refuted by numerous studies. Neighborhoods with higher concentrations of immigrant residents have lower crime rates than similar neighborhoods with fewer immigrant residents. Indeed, when compared to native born citizens of similar age and social backgrounds, immigrants are less likely have been arrested for a crime. The claim that ICE must be sent into so-called "sanctuary cities" to protect those residents from violent criminals is not borne out by data. An independent review of the arrest histories of immigrants detained by ICE in those "sanctuary" locations found that well more than half and in some places as many as four -fifths had no criminal record at all. No more than 7%, and in some places only 2%, had a conviction for a violent crime. ICE clearly targets immigrants, generally. Far from making places safer, the arrival of ICE has promoted disruption and chaos. At the hearing, a point was made about post -Floyd disruptions in Portland, but that is not the apt comparison. Before ICE began special operations in Minneapolis, there was no immigration -related disruption. Immigrants were more -or -less absorbed into the normal life of the city. The same was true in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. Despite common complaints about people who were not born in the US, places with large concentrations of immigrants have not been particularly disrupted by them —certainly, there has been no increase in crime attributed to their presence. The Council meeting I attended began with the certification of seven new members of the Kalispell Police Department. In their training, I am sure they learned how to prevent loss of life during tense confrontations like the one that ended in the killing of Renee Good. We can be confident that our own police would handle those and similar situations with far, far more self-control and professionalism. These new officers are from our community, and we can well expect that they will treat their fellow community members with the dignity and respect we all have come to expect from our police. We have learned how preposterous it is to expect that level of professionalism and respectfulness from masked ICE agents. Whether the City of Kalispell decides to partner with ICE in the work they are doing is a political decision above my pay grade. But relying upon scholarly studies and recent experience, the right course is much more apparent. Where ICE arrives, the safety of the local community declines. Sincerely yours, To R. Clear Selected studies of immigration and crime 1. Abramitzky, R., Boustan, L. P., Eriksson, K., & Perez, J. J. (2023). "Law -Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the U.S.-Born, 1870- 2020." American Economic Review: Insights. --Immigrants are historically not more likely to be imprisoned than U.S.-born individuals and are currently 30% to 60% less likely to be incarcerated. 2. Ousey, G. C., & Kubrin, C. E. (2018). "Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Contentious Issue." Annual Review of Criminology. --Immigration is generally associated with lower crime rates or has no significant impact on crime. 3. Light, M. T., & Miller, J. (2018). "Does Immigration Increase Violent Crime?" Criminology. --Increased undocumented immigration does not increase violent crime and is often associated with a less violent crime. 4. Light, M. T., He, J., & Robey, J. P. (2020). "Comparing crime rates between undocumented immigrants, legal immigrants, and native-born US citizens in Texas." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). --Undocumented immigrants have lower conviction rates than native-born citizens.