The Percent of Foreign Citizens in Federal Prison Is 46.6% Higher Their Share of the US Population
John R. Lott Jr., Crime Prevention Research Center, January 28, 2025
As of 2023, approximately 14.3% of people living in the United States were born outside the country. {snip} Applying this percentage to the 2023 foreign-born population estimate, around 7.3% of the total U.S. population were non-citizens {snip} By contrast, 15.3% of prisoners in federal prison in January 2025 were citizens of a foreign country — 110% higher than their share of the U.S. population. {snip} Part of this high rate may be due to the types of crimes that the federal government covers. For example, 4.6% of the prisoners are there for immigration offenses. Subtracting 4.6% from 15.3% will give 10.7%, which is still 46.6% higher than their share of the U.S. population. {snip}
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