President Donald Trump has turbo-powered immigration enforcement efforts in the U.S. As of March 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was detaining approximately 60,000 people. The agency is now the best-funded law enforcement organization in the country. The Trump administration claims that expanded immigration enforcement will reduce crime. But does the data support that? Teo tells Clare about the recent history of immigration enforcement in the U.S. and explains what information we have on its relationship to crime. 

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Sources in this episode:
ICE Detention and Deportation by the Numbers, Austin Kocher, Substack, 2026
Deportation Data Project, University of California, Berkeley, 2026
The Human and Financial Costs Rack Up as Immigration Detention Expands, Martin Kaste, NPR, 2026
Rethinking Immigration Enforcement, Charis E. Kubrin, Scholars Strategy Network, 2025
Immigration Enforcement and Public Safety, Felipe M. Gonçalves, Elisa Jácome, Emily K. Weisburst, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, 2024 
Immigration and Crime: Taking Stock, Charis E. Kubrin and Graham C. Ousey, SpringerBriefs in Criminology, 2023
Immigrant Organizations and Neighborhood Crime, Young-An Kim, John R. Hipp, Charis E. Kubrin, Sage Journal, 2022
Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime, Scott R. Baker, American Economic Review, 2015
7 Reasons to Abandon the Secure Communities Program, Charis E. Kubrin, Criminology and Public Policy, 2014
Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities, Thomas J. Miles and Adam B. Cox, The Journal of Law and Economics, 2014
Interview with Professor Charis E. Kubrin, University of California, Irvine, 2026
Interview with Phil Neff, University of Washington Center for Human Rights, 2026

President Donald Trump has turbo-powered immigration enforcement efforts in the U.S. As of March 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was detaining approximately 60,000 people. The agency is now the best-funded law enforcement organization in the country. The Trump administration claims that expanded immigration enforcement will reduce crime. But does the data support that? Teo tells Clare about the recent history of immigration enforcement in the U.S. and explains what information we have on its relationship to crime.&nbsp;
We want to answer your questions about how our world works! <a href="https://forms.office.com/r/4nGSfCuAML"> Click here</a> to submit a question using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org
Support the show by supporting our home,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kuow.org/donate/control-f-notes">KUOW Public Radio</a> in Seattle.
Sources in this episode:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://austinkocher.substack.com/p/ice-detention-and-deportation-by">ICE Detention and Deportation by the Numbers</a>, Austin Kocher, Substack, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://deportationdata.org/index.html">Deportation Data Project</a>, University of California, Berkeley, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/26/nx-s1-5742745/ice-immigration-detention-costs-economy">The Human and Financial Costs Rack Up as Immigration Detention Expands</a>, Martin Kaste, NPR, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1">Rethinking Immigration Enforcement, Charis E. Kubrin, <a href="https://scholars.org">Scholars Strategy Network</a>, 2025</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w32109">Immigration Enforcement and Public Safety</a>, Felipe M. Gon&ccedil;alves, Elisa J&aacute;come, Emily K. Weisburst, National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper, 2024&nbsp;</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-22839-1">Immigration and Crime: Taking Stock</a>, Charis E. Kubrin and Graham C. Ousey, SpringerBriefs in Criminology, 2023</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00111287221084289">Immigrant Organizations and Neighborhood Crime</a>, Young-An Kim, John R. Hipp, Charis E. Kubrin, Sage Journal, 2022</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.p20151041">Effects of Immigrant Legalization on Crime</a>, Scott R. Baker, American Economic Review, 2015</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2492655">7 Reasons to Abandon the Secure Communities Program</a>, Charis E. Kubrin, Criminology and Public Policy, 2014</li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/680935?journalCode=jle">Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities</a>, Thomas J. Miles and Adam B. Cox, The Journal of Law and Economics, 2014</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Professor Charis E. Kubrin, University of California, Irvine, 2026</li>
<li aria-level="1">Interview with Phil Neff, University of Washington Center for Human Rights, 2026</li>
</ul>

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data &mdash; hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data &mdash; and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. 

Control F

Immigration enforcement, and specifically Immigrations and Custom Enforcement, have taken center stage in President Trump's second term. The president has tied immigration to crime, and claims immigration enforcement will reduce crime. But data shows that immigrants are less involved in crime than U.S. citizens, and there's little evidence that enforcement of immigration laws shifts crime rates. 