During a House Oversight Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) questioned witnesses about crime statistics related to immigration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Mr. Fallon.
00:02 All right.
00:04 Gentlemen, thank you for coming.
00:09 I heard some of the questioning earlier, and some of our Democratic colleagues were focusing
00:15 on are illegal immigrants less likely to commit crimes than native-born American citizens?
00:21 And I think we're asking the wrong question.
00:23 First of all, in relation to that, we don't know if that's a true statement or not.
00:28 We don't know if they're less or more likely, because the studies that were done were flawed,
00:32 and they cite a Cato study.
00:34 And yet in the Cato study, they say, and I quote, "We can't make a direct apples-to-apples
00:40 comparison between Texas and other states."
00:42 We also don't see studies done when we've had this Biden-Boehner crisis and this explosion.
00:47 When you look at the Obama administration, about 1.7 million illegal encounters in the
00:52 first three years, about the same with the Trump administration.
00:55 And then it went up to almost 8 million.
00:58 We don't know the impact of that yet.
01:00 So I like to begin, unlike so many people in Congress, I like to begin with doubts and
01:05 then end in certainties, not the other way around.
01:07 I don't want to put my thumb on the scale.
01:08 I want to know the truth.
01:10 Not their truth or our truth.
01:11 There is no such thing as that.
01:12 There's such a thing as one thing, the truth.
01:15 So we're asking the wrong question.
01:17 We should be asking this question.
01:20 Are we safer or not with mass unlawful migration?
01:25 And I think I can answer that definitively.
01:27 We are less safe when we allow mass unlawful migration.
01:32 Take case in point in Texas, my home state.
01:37 Between June of 2011 and March of 2024, there were 513,000 crimes committed by criminal
01:46 aliens.
01:48 428,000 criminal aliens just in Texas were arrested that resulted in 187,000 felony convictions.
01:59 So I think our job here in Congress is to make all American citizens as safe as possible.
02:05 Allowing for mass unlawful migration, sticking your head in the sand and pretending it doesn't
02:09 exist or it's not harmful, is absolutely ludicrous.
02:13 It doesn't matter if somebody is more or less likely.
02:16 Clearly, criminal aliens exist and they've committed mass amount of crimes in Texas.
02:22 Chair Waverman, great to see you again.
02:25 You're a great American.
02:27 While there are several factors in play, is it possible that the rise in crime recently
02:32 in Texas has some correlation to the rise in the number of illegal migrants in Texas?
02:39 I believe you answered your own question a while ago.
02:41 I don't think we can tell that depending on the documentation.
02:45 We've actually in the Dallas-Fort Worth area have seen a decrease in crime, but we don't
02:49 know that community a lot of times simply doesn't report it.
02:54 And we know that for a fact.
02:56 Well yeah, and who are the criminal, Sheriff, who are the criminal migrant gangs like MS-13
03:02 and others, who are they most likely to prey on demographically?
03:06 Are they most likely to prey on white Americans, black Americans, or Hispanic Americans?
03:10 Hispanic Americans.
03:11 Yeah, they're actually disproportionately more of a threat, people of color in this
03:15 country, to this criminal element.
03:18 That's it.
03:19 I believe you were part of the legislature in Texas where we changed the law where we
03:21 can't ask immigration status of a victim to get them to come more out of the shadows to
03:25 tell us who's attacking them.
03:28 Yeah, it's about protecting innocence and justice.
03:31 Also, Sheriff, my constituents are telling me repeatedly, expressing concerns about the
03:36 border and illegal migrations.
03:37 The number one thing I hear at town halls.
03:39 What are you hearing from your constituencies in Tarrant County?
03:43 I think they're very concerned about the open border and have been for the last several
03:46 years and the plethora of drugs that are coming across it and the impact it is having to our
03:51 communities because it knows no bounds.
03:53 Is this just Republican?
03:55 No, sir.
03:57 This is the citizens in general.
03:59 And is it just a certain demographic?
04:00 Is it just white Americans or is it all shapes, sizes, and shades?
04:04 All Americans.
04:05 Sheriff Chapman, you're sheriff in Virginia.
04:11 Do you feel like border concerns are something you hear about as well up there?
04:15 And are you concerned?
04:16 Well, certainly I'm concerned about what's going on with the border and the impact that
04:19 it's having across the country to include Loudoun County, Virginia.
04:26 Mr. Behr, yes or no answer.
04:28 Would you agree it would be potentially dangerous to allow a complete stranger into your home?
04:34 I wouldn't.
04:36 You wouldn't do that, right?
04:37 I mean, it depends on the circumstances.
04:40 It's clear that somebody knocks on your door, you don't want to know who they are.
04:43 I don't let them in either.
04:44 I mean, I don't know.
04:45 It depends on who they are.
04:46 Well, you said no.
04:47 It's a family with kids.
04:48 Why shouldn't it be too hasty?
04:49 A complete stranger.
04:50 Okay, all right.
04:51 So you would, a stranger, family, and kids.
04:54 How many strangers and kids are in your home right now?
04:58 None that I know of.
04:59 None.
05:00 So you don't invite, do you house any illegal migrants in your home?
05:03 Or I should just say migrants that have crossed the border in your home?
05:06 No.
05:07 Mr. Chairman, I yield back.