Latino immigration and White, Black, and Latino violent crime: A comparison of traditional and non-traditional immigrant destinations

Despite a resurgent interest in the macro-level relationship between Latino immigration and violent crime, research has overlooked an important shift in immigrant settlement whereby Latino migrants are increasingly bypassing traditional receiving communities in favor of non-traditional ones. Additionally, how the impact of this new settlement pattern on violence is conditioned by race and ethnicity has yet to be explored. Using year 2000 race/ethnic-specific arrest data for 326 California, New York, and Texas census places, the current study explores the relationship between recent Latino immigration and White, Black, and Latino violent crime across both traditional and non-traditional immigrant destinations. Results suggest that (1) recent Latino immigration is generally unassociated with violence across all communities, (2) recent Latino immigration is associated with decreased violence in traditional destinations but slightly increased violence in non-traditional destinations, and (3) there are important race/ethnic differences in these relationships. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

► We assess the link between recent Latino immigrant flows and violent crime.
► Analyses are disaggregated by community-type and race/ethnic group.
► Latino immigration into traditional communities is associated with less violence.
► Latino immigration in non-traditional communities is associated with more violence.
► The impact of Latino immigration on crime is largely confined to Latinos and (to a lesser extent) Blacks.