Laken Riley Murder: Outrage over the Killing of Laken Riley Is Completely Justified

While following the political debate that has been prompted by the horrific killing of Laken Riley at the University of Georgia, I have seen one argument pop up more than any other: namely, that the resentment that is being directed toward both the Biden administration and the government of New York City is misplaced, because, statistically, illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens. On Twitter, the Cato Institute’s David Boaz made this case as pithily as I have seen it made: “On the day that young woman was tragically killed,” Boaz wrote, “70 people were killed by American citizens.”

I must confess that I find this way of thinking entirely baffling. If the question at hand here were, “Do illegal immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than U.S. citizens?” these numbers would be relevant. But that’s not the question, is it? The question that the critics are asking is, “What could have been done to prevent this murder?” And, clearly, the answer to that inquiry is going to be completely different when one is dealing with illegal immigrants — or any non-American visitors, for that matter — than when one is dealing with American citizens. By law, the United States government is obliged to monitor who is entering the country, and to turn away at the border anyone who is deemed likely to present a threat. For reasons that ought to be self-evident, it does not perform that service internally. Practically, philosophically, and politically, to compare the two directly is to compare chalk and cheese.

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Charles C. W. Cooke

Charles C. W. Cooke is a senior editor at National Review and the host of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast.

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While following the political debate that has been prompted by the horrific killing of Laken Riley at the University of Georgia, I have seen one argument pop up more than any other: namely, that the resentment that is being directed toward both the Biden administration and the government of New York City is misplaced, because, statistically, illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens. On Twitter, the Cato Institute’s David Boaz made this case as pithily as I have seen it made: “On the day that young woman was tragically killed,” Boaz wrote, “70 people were killed by American citizens.”

I must confess that I find this way of thinking entirely baffling. If the question at hand here were, “Do illegal immigrants commit crimes at a higher rate than U.S. citizens?” these numbers would be relevant. But that’s not the question, is it? The question that the critics are asking is, “What could have been done to prevent this murder?” And, clearly, the answer to that inquiry is going to be completely different when one is dealing with illegal immigrants — or any non-American visitors, for that matter — than when one is dealing with American citizens. By law, the United States government is obliged to monitor who is entering the country, and to turn away at the border anyone who is deemed likely to present a threat. For reasons that ought to be self-evident, it does not perform that service internally. Practically, philosophically, and politically, to compare the two directly is to compare chalk and cheese.