When Trump addressed the UN General Assembly on September 23rd, he dedicated much of his nearly hour-long speech to the dangers of “illegal migration” - one of his favourite topics.
In a hit against Europe in general, he also claimed that Switzerland's prisons are overflowing with foreigners - suggesting this was evidence of what he called unchecked immigration.
Trump warned that Western European countries were being “destroyed” by illegal migration, blaming political correctness for weak policies.
And on Switzerland's prison population the president said: "And in Switzerland, beautiful Switzerland, 72 percent of people are from outside Switzerland."
Is this claim true?
Taken simply Trump's statistic is indeed accurate - and at times, that proportion of foreigners in Swiss prisons has been even higher.
Based on FSO data, on January 31st, 2025, 6,994 people were in prison in Switzerland, including 5,069 foreign nationals. That works out at 72.48 percent.
But does it tell the full story?
Swiss broadcaster RTS says no.
"If the figure is correct, the American president's use of it is simplistic and misleading," it said.
To understand Trump's data, it is important to distinguish between the different categories of incarcerated foreigners, because as we know, Switzerland is full of foreigners who are legally resident in the country - such as EU nationals for example.
A study by the University of Lausanne published in 2019 highlights the importance of this composition.
It showed that at the time, of the 6,863 detainees, 49.3 percent were living legally in Switzerland (whether Swiss or EU nationals or foreigners with permits), 9.6 percent were asylum seekers, and 41.1 percent belonged to the "other foreigners or unknown status" category.
This last category includes all people who do not have a fixed address in Switzerland, including cross-border commuters with a G permit, tourists, undocumented immigrants, and individuals without residence status.
Therefore, including them in the statistics alongside 'legal' foreigners is misleading. And for good reason: "in total, 34 percent of all prisoners in the country are foreigners without residency in Switzerland. In pretrial detention, this proportion even rises to 49 percent(more on this below)," the study indicated.
Important context
"There are three main reasons why this figure is so high," criminologist Benjamin F. Brägger said in an interview with the Lausanne daily 24 Heures.
"First, the high proportion of foreigners in Swiss prisons reflects the relatively high proportion of foreigners in Switzerland - approximately 2.5 million, which amounts to about 27 percent of the permanent resident population.
Second, many foreign inmates in Swiss prisons are "crime tourists" - groups that include "organised gangs of burglars or robbers from Eastern European countries, such as Romania, or gangs from the Lyon region of France
"These people represent a large part of the statistics, but they are not domiciled in Switzerland and do not have valid residence papers. They come here only to commit their crimes."
In other words they are not immigrants at all.
Brägger also stats the number of foreign nationals in Swiss prisons is pushed up because asylum seekers are can end up behind bars for offences related to their status.
He also points out these individuals, who often lack prospects or any hope of becoming fully integrated in Switzerland are susceptible to falling into a life of crime and drugs.
Swiss legal reforms also mean that foreign nationals who commit offences are more often that not locked up because no other alternative is available to authorities.
"If the convicted person does not have legal residence status or if a criminal expulsion is ordered by the court, semi-detention and electronic monitoring are no longer permitted for foreign offenders," Brägger says.
In other words foreigners are often considered a flight risk and for this reason authorities favour jail over alternative punishments that would be available to Swiss nationals with fixed addresses, such as house arrest, community service or electronic tagging.
"There is a certain discrimination made by the law itself," said André Kuhn, professor of criminal law at the University of Neuchâtel.
This is even more the case when it comes to pre-trial detention with foreigners far more likely to be locked up ahead of trial due to fears they might flee. Around one third of the total number of prisoners in Switzerland are being held on pre-trial detention - in other words still innocent in the eyes of law.
Of the 2076 individuals in pre-trial detention in 2024, 450 were Swiss nationals, 501 were foreigners with residency permits, 144 were asylum seekers and 980 were foreigners without residency permits.
So while Trump is accurate with his percentage, his simple statistic does not tell the full story.
READ ALSO: Why foreigners and poor people are more likely to end up in a Swiss prison
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