Crime in British neighborhoods that have experienced mass immigration from Eastern Europe over the last 10 years has fallen significantly, according to research that challenges a widely held view over the impact of foreigners in the United Kingdom.
Rates of burglary, vandalism and car theft all dropped following the arrival of migrants from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and seven other countries after they joined the European Union in 2004. But the opposite was found to be the case in areas that experienced an influx of asylum seekers from the late 1990s onwards where rates of property crime were "significantly higher." In addition, immigration has no impact on levels of violent crime on British streets, according to the analysis.
Experts from the London School of Economics (LSE) set out to examine if the common assertion that immigrants cause crime was corroborated by statistics after noting a "paucity of credible empirical evidence" to support the claim.