Immigration and crime are very similar, in that people care a lot about them when media and the politicians are telling them to, and not so much otherwise (at least given current rates of violent crime, generally).
I think that's even more true with immigration than it used to be. They had to ratchet up the rhetoric. No longer is it simply "people unlike you will be living in your suburb." It's all about invading hordes and drug gangs. Have to trumpet those scary caravans that dominate the news in September every even year.
The recent "crime wave" was mostly visible homelessness in a few major cities where some rich assholes live.
