The crime rate among illegal immigrants in Arizona is twice that of other residents, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said, citing a new report based on conviction data

The report, from the Crime Prevention Research Center, used a previously untapped set of data from Arizona that detailed criminal convictions and found that illegal immigrants between 15 and 35 are less than 3% of the state’s population, but nearly 8% of its prison population. The type of person who goes through the process to legally immigrate in the United States appears to be very law-abiding versus even the U.S.-born population. The reverse is true for illegal immigrants — they are committing crimes, and more serious crimes. Among nearly 4,000 first- and second-degree murder convictions, illegal immigrants accounted for nearly 13% — significantly higher than their percentage of the population. Legal immigrants, by contrast, were less than 1% of convicts. Native-born made up the rest. Illegal immigrants also accounted for five times the rate of convictions for money laundering and kidnapping, and were three times more likely to be convicted of drive-by shootings. The data covered from 1985 to 2017.