Editing Refugee (section)

===Crime===
Little empirical evidence supports concerns that refugees commit crimes at higher rates than natives, and some evidence suggests they may commit crime at lower rates than natives.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1 =Masterson |first1 =Daniel |last2 =Yasenov |first2 =Vasil |date =August 2021 |title =Does Halting Refugee Resettlement Reduce Crime? Evidence from the US Refugee Ban |journal =American Political Science Review |language =en |volume =115 |issue =3 |pages =1066–1073 |doi =10.1017/S0003055421000150 |s2cid =233649843 |issn =0003-0554|doi-access =free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title =Refugee Waves and Crime: Evidence from EU Countries |date =2019 |url =https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/does-immigration-increase-crime/refugee-waves-and-crime-evidence-from-eu-countries/2273436F5966C0CC4B9789286E3CDD6D |work =Does Immigration Increase Crime?: Migration Policy and the Creation of the Criminal Immigrant |pages =129–155 |editor-last =Owens |editor-first =Emily G. |place =Cambridge |publisher =Cambridge University Press |doi =10.1017/9781108626286.006 |isbn =978-1-108-49455-7 |s2cid =216605573 |access-date =2022-04-21 |editor2-last =Fasani |editor2-first =Francesco |editor3-last =Mastrobuoni |editor3-first =Giovanni |editor4-last =Pinotti |editor4-first =Paolo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1 =Amuedo-Dorantes |first1 =Catalina |last2 =Bansak |first2 =Cynthia |last3 =Pozo |first3 =Susan |date =March 2021 |title =Refugee Admissions and Public Safety: Are Refugee Settlement Areas More Prone to Crime? |url =http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0197918320920192 |journal =International Migration Review |language =en |volume =55 |issue =1 |pages =135–165 |doi =10.1177/0197918320920192 |s2cid =169331047 |issn =0197-9183|hdl =10419/185072 |hdl-access =free }}</ref> Very rarely, refugees have been used and recruited as refugee [[militant]]s or [[terrorist]]s,{{sfn|United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)|1999}} and the humanitarian aid directed at refugee relief has very rarely been utilized to fund the acquisition of arms.{{sfn|Crisp|1999}} Although conclusions from case-studies of refugee-mobilizations raised concerns that humanitarian aid may support rebel groups,<ref>{{Cite journal |last =Adelman |first =Howard |date =1998-07-01 |title =Why Refugee Warriors are Threats |url =https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/JCS/article/view/11672 |journal =Journal of Conflict Studies |language =en |issn =1715-5673}}</ref> more recent empirical evidence does not support the generalizability of these concerns.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1 =Masterson |first1 =Daniel |last2 =Lehmann |first2 =M. Christian |date =May 2020 |title =Refugees, Mobilization, and Humanitarian Aid: Evidence from the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon |url =http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002719885176 |journal =Journal of Conflict Resolution |language =en |volume= 64 |issue =5 |pages =817–843 |doi =10.1177/0022002719885176 |s2cid =211355603 |issn =0022-0027}}</ref> Support from a refugee-receiving state has rarely been used to enable refugees to mobilize militarily, enabling conflict to spread across borders.{{sfn|Weiss|1999|pp=1–22}}

Historically, refugee populations have often been portrayed{{cn|date=October 2024}} as a security threat. In the U.S and Europe, there has been much focus on a narrative whereby terrorists maintain networks amongst transnational, refugee, and migrant populations. This fear has been exaggerated into a modern-day Islamist terrorism Trojan Horse in which terrorists allegedly hide among refugees and penetrate host countries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schmid |first=Alex |year=2016 |title=Links Between Terrorism and Migration: An Exploration |url=https://www.icct.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Alex-P.-Schmid-Links-between-Terrorism-and-Migration-1.pdf|journal=Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies |doi=10.19165/2016.1.04 |access-date=29 March 2017 |archive-date=23 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200723230300/https://www.icct.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Alex-P.-Schmid-Links-between-Terrorism-and-Migration-1.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> 'Muslim-refugee-as-an-enemy-within' rhetoric is relatively new, but the underlying [[scapegoating]] of out-groups for domestic societal problems, fears and [[ethno-nationalism | ethno-nationalist]] sentiment is not new.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Functions of Social Conflict |last=Coser |first=Lewis |publisher=The Free Press |year=1956}}</ref> In the 1890s, the influx of Eastern European Jewish refugees to London coupled with the rise of [[anarchism]] in the city led to a confluence of threat-perception and fear of the refugee out-group.<ref>{{Cite journal |author =Michael Collyer |date =2005-03-01|title =Secret agents: Anarchists, Islamists and responses to politically active refugees in London|journal =Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume =28|issue =2|pages =278–303 |doi =10.1080/01419870420000315852|s2cid =144981657|issn =0141-9870}}</ref> Populist rhetoric then too propelled debate over migration control and protecting [[national security]].

Cross-national empirical verification, or rejection, of populist suspicion and fear of refugees' threat to national security and terror-related activities is relatively scarce.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Milton |first1=Daniel |last2=Spencer |first2=Megan |last3=Findley |first3=Michael |date=2013-11-01 |title=Radicalism of the Hopeless: Refugee Flows and Transnational Terrorism |journal=International Interactions |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=621–645 |doi=10.1080/03050629.2013.834256 |s2cid=153556065 |issn=0305-0629}}</ref> Case-studies suggest that the threat of an Islamist refugee Trojan Horse is highly exaggerated.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Messari |first1=N. |last2=van der Klaauw |first2=J. |date=2010-12-01 |title=Counter-Terrorism Measures and Refugee Protection in North Africa |journal=Refugee Survey Quarterly |language=en |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=83–103 |doi=10.1093/rsq/hdq034 |issn=1020-4067}}</ref>{{qn|date=October 2024}} Of the 800,000 refugees vetted through the resettlement program in the United States between 2001 and 2016, only five were subsequently arrested on terrorism charges; and 17 of the 600,000 Iraqis and Syrians who arrived in Germany in 2015 were investigated for terrorism.<ref name="UNHCR IDP" /> One study found that European [[jihadist]]s tend to be 'homegrown': over 90% were residents of a European country and 60% had European citizenship.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wilner |first1=Alex S. |last2=Dubouloz |first2=Claire-Jehanne |date=2010-02-01 |title=Homegrown terrorism and transformative learning: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding radicalization |journal=Global Change, Peace & Security |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=33–51 |doi=10.1080/14781150903487956 |s2cid=55876637 |issn=1478-1158 |doi-access=free | quote = For the most part, homegrown terrorists have been citizens and residents born, raised, and educated within the countries they attack and groups have been self-generated and independently organized. A recent study of over 200 European jihadists, for instance, found that over 90% were residents of a European country and almost 60% retained European citizenship.}} - Citing Edwin Bakker, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jp8QJwAACAAJ&dq=Edwin+Bakker,+%27%27Jihadi+Terrorists+in+Europe:+Their+Characteristics+and+the+Circumstances+in+which+they+Joined+the+Jihad%27%27&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjF7JLVi6uJAxW3L1kFHeLSFjEQ6AF6BAgJEAE ''Jihadi Terrorists in Europe: Their Characteristics and the Circumstances in which they Joined the Jihad'']. Issue 2 of Clingendael security paper, Nederlands Instituut voor Internationale Betrekkingen Clingendael (The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations, 2006), 36–7. ISBN 9789050311137.
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While the statistics do not support the rhetoric, a PEW Research Center survey of ten European countries (Hungary, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, UK, France, and Spain) released on 11 July 2016, finds that majorities (ranging from 52% to 76%) of respondents in eight countries (Hungary, Poland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece, and UK) think refugees increase the likelihood of terrorism in their country.<ref name="Wike">Wike, Richard, Bruce Stokes, and Katie Simmons. "Europeans fear wave of refugees will mean more terrorism, fewer jobs."&nbsp;''Pew Research Center''&nbsp;11 (2016).</ref> Since 1975, in the U.S., the risk of dying in a terror attack by a refugee is 1 in 3.6 billion per year;<ref>{{Cite report |last=Nowrasteh |first=Alex |date=2016-09-13 |title=Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis |work=Cato Institute Policy Analysis No. 798 |ssrn=2842277}}</ref> whereas the odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash are 1 in 113; by state sanctioned execution: 1 in 111,439; or by dog attack: 1 in 114,622.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.nsc.org/learn/safety-knowledge/Pages/injury-facts-chart.aspx |title=Injury Facts Chart |website=nsc.org |language=en |access-date=2017-03-29}}</ref>

In Europe, fear of immigration, [[Islamification]] and job and welfare-benefits competition has fueled an increase in violence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGowan |first=Lee |date=2014-07-03 |title=Right-Wing Violence in Germany: Assessing the Objectives, Personalities and Terror Trail of the National Socialist Underground and the State's Response to It |journal=German Politics |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=196–212 |doi=10.1080/09644008.2014.967224 |s2cid=144993061 |issn=0964-4008}}</ref>{{qn|date=October 2024}} Immigrants are perceived as a threat to ethno-nationalist [[Identity (social science) | identity]] and increase concerns over criminality and insecurity.<ref name="Wiggen">{{Cite journal |last=Wiggen |first=Mette |date=2012-12-01 |title=Rethinking Anti-Immigration Rhetoric after the Oslo and Utøya Terror Attacks |journal=New Political Science |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=585–604 |doi=10.1080/07393148.2012.729744 |s2cid=143485932 |issn=0739-3148}}</ref>{{qn|date=October 2024}}

In the PEW survey previously referenced, 50% of respondents saw refugees as a burden due to job and social-benefit competition.<ref name="Wike" /> When Sweden received over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, the influx was accompanied by 50 attacks against asylum-seekers, which was more than four times the number of attacks that occurred in the previous four years.<ref name="UNHCR IDP" /> At the incident level, the 2011 Utøya Norway terror attack by [[Anders Behring Breivik | Breivik]] demonstrates the impact of this threat perception on a country's risk from domestic terrorism, in particular ethno-nationalist extremism. Breivik portrayed himself as a protector of Norwegian ethnic identity and national security, fighting against (alleged) immigrant criminality, competition and welfare-abuse and an Islamic takeover.<ref name="Wiggen" />

Contrary to popular concerns that refugees commit crime, a more empirically grounded concern is that refugees are at high risk of being targets of anti-refugee violence.<ref>{{Cite book |last =Onoma |first =Ato Kwamena |url =https://books.google.com/books?id=iUyyAAAAQBAJ |title =Anti-Refugee Violence and African Politics |date =2013-10-07 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-03669-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lehmann |first1 =M. Christian |last2 =Masterson |first2 =Daniel T. R. |date =November 2020 |title =Does Aid Reduce Anti-refugee Violence? Evidence from Syrian Refugees in Lebanon |url =https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/does-aid-reduce-antirefugee-violence-evidence-from-syrian-refugees-in-lebanon/18C5224DD575F6E9E484CB5BC42CD49A |journal =American Political Science Review |language =en |volume =114 |issue =4 |pages =1335–1342 |doi =10.1017/S0003055420000349 |s2cid =225129140 |issn =0003-0554}}</ref> According to a 2018 study in the ''Journal of Peace Research'', states often resort to anti-refugee violence in response to terrorist attacks or to security crises. The study notes that there is evidence to suggest that "the repression of refugees is more consistent with a scapegoating mechanism than the actual ties and involvement of refugees in terrorism".<ref>{{Cite journal |title=From protection to persecution: Threat environment and refugee scapegoating |journal=Journal of Peace Research |volume=56 |pages=88–102 |language=en |doi=10.1177/0022343318811432 |year = 2019 |last1 = Savun |first1 = Burcu |last2=Gineste |first2=Christian |doi-access=free}}</ref>

In 2018, US president Donald Trump made some comments about refugees and immigrants in Sweden; he stated that the high numbers of crimes are because of refugees and immigrants.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-claims-he-was-right-about-crimes-caused-immigrants-sweden-n854296 |title=Trump claims vindication for baffling Sweden terror comments |website=[[NBC News]] |date=7 March 2018 }}</ref>