A study released on Monday shows that the immigrants in California are less likely to commit crimes in the U.S. despite the belief that the two are more connected.

The report by the Public Policy Institute of California says that out of the 35 percent which makes for the foreign-born population of the state only 17 percent represent the adult prison population.

According to the study, noncitizen men from Mexico between the ages of 18 and 40 were eight times more likely not to be in a prison.

The study didn’t specify the visa status of those included in the report, this including those who entered legally as well as illegally in the country.

Also the report didn’t refer to crimes like shoplifting or vandalism, which don’t end up in jail time.

However the report shows implications for the current immigration rules, according to Kristin Butcher, co-author of the report.

She said in a statement: "Our research indicates that limiting immigration, requiring higher educational levels to obtain visas or spending more money to increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little impact on public safety," San Francisco Chronicle reports.

She also said that the immigrants are here in order to find jobs and less likely to do crimes.

Even though the lower rates of education and higher poverty ones recorded for the immigrants were related with crime rates, there could be other factors contributing to the lower rate in state prison.

For example the immigration laws monitor legal immigrants for crimes. The immigrants may be deported if they carry out crimes with a sentence of a year or more.

The report also says that the deportation of immigrant criminals could affect the incarceration rates.