Immigration and Crime

[Dardedar]

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest Edition

Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007

URL: LINK

HERE’S A welcome voice of reason

in the crime / immigration debate that’s spilling
over in Northwest Arkansas. Springdale’s police
chief has reviewed her department’s records for
2006. Her conclusion ? There’s no truth to any
perception that illegal immigrants are
responsible for most of Springdale’s crime. Kathy
O’Kelley said Hispanic arrests were only 29
percent of the total for the year, while Hispanic
residents make up 32. 8 percent of Springdale’s
population. Even if every arrest recorded as
Hispanic involved a suspect who was in the
country illegally, the vast majority of arrests
in Springdale would still be of non-Hispanic
members of the population. Chief O’Kelley has
solid numbers on her side. It’s amazing what a
little research will show. In this case, it shows
that there’s no out-of-proportion crime wave on
the part of illegal immigrants in Springdale. The
chief reached the same conclusion about
Springdale that a review by this newspaper of
crime statistics in Rogers found a couple of
weeks ago. Any charge that illegal immigrants are
causing the bulk of the crime in either town
simply isn’t true. We’re not aware of anybody in
Springdale making such a charge—not publicly
anyway. But it’s been tossed around freely in
neighboring Rogers. There, the mayor has loudly
blamed a “clear majority” of the crime in his
city on illegal aliens. Even after the
newspaper’s review corrected Steve Womack, he has
yet to acknowledge that he was wrong.

Mayor Womack is playing to a certain crowd in his
town—those who equate anybody with brown skin
with an ILLEGAL ALIEN ! Which is nonsense, of
course. But it sounds like Chief O’Kelley is
hearing echoes of the same sentiment in
Springdale, too. At least she’s trying to calm
folks down by stating the simple facts.

The chief doesn’t deny there’s some level of
criminal activity among illegal immigrants in
Springdale. In her report to the city council,
the chief said her department investigated crimes
that led to the deportation of nearly 40 suspects
in 2006. But she added that her greatest fear was
that law enforcement under her watch would cause
problems for innocent legal residents.

Hers is an admirable concern. As has been
consistently noted, Rogers needs to be careful
not to paint legal and illegal residents with the
same brush. Springdale seems to know how to do
it.

Here’s hoping Mayor Womack is paying attention.

[Dardedar]

DAR
I passed the above along to a rightwing friend. My response, to his, below:

***
-- Bill wrote:
> Springdale's illegal alien crime seems to be
> better than other places.
> Consider the comments below:
>
> Today, criminal aliens account for over 29

DAR
Before I roast this, let me give the whole
quote:

***
"The criminal alien problem is growing.

Criminal aliens—non-citizens who commit
crimes—are a growing threat to public safety and
national security, as well as a drain on our
scarce criminal justice resources."

DAR
I consider the category "criminal aliens"
bogus and misleading.

QUOTE
"In 1980, our federal and state prisons housed
fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens. By the end of
1999, these same prisons housed over 68,000
criminal aliens.1"

DAR
No source given. Their footnote contradicts itself:

"Other aliens not included in this total include
immigrants who have become U.S. citizens (not
included in the federal prison data)..."

And the reason they wouldn't be included? If you
have become a US citizen, then you are by
definition NOT an "alien." Thus these people are
not "other aliens" as they mistakenly say.

QUOTE
"Today, criminal aliens account for over 29
percent of prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons
facilities and a higher share of all federal
prison inmates.2"

DAR
This is confused. Probably misleading. What is
the difference between "prisoners in Federal
Bureau of Prisons facilities" and someone who is
a "federal prison inmate?" This makes no sense.
Let me check.
Oh, I see what your biased source is doing.
Here is what the Bureau says:

***
As a result of Federal law enforcement efforts
and new legislation that dramatically altered
sentencing in the Federal criminal justice
system, the 1980s brought a significant increase
in the number of Federal inmates. The Sentencing
Reform Act of 1984 established determinate
sentencing, abolished parole, and reduced good
time; additionally, several mandatory minimum
sentencing provisions were enacted in 1986, 1988,
and 1990. From 1980 to 1989, the inmate
population more than doubled, from just over
24,000 to almost 58,000. During the 1990s, the
population more than doubled again, reaching
approximately 136,000 at the end of 1999 as
efforts to combat illegal drugs and illegal
immigration contributed to significantly
increased conviction rates."

LINK

***

DAR
The Federal Bureau of Prisons seems to be a
special category. Perhaps they deal with a
certain specific kind of criminal more often
(immigrants and aliens) since the numbers of
prisoners they oversee is obviously a tiny
fraction of the well over 2 million held in US
prisons. This wildly distorts the numbers. Your
source, a confused and poorly sourced
anti-immigration special interest group,
misleadingly didn't mention this. No doubt this
group, your source, does this to scare white guys
in Arkansas. Apparently it is working.

QUOTE
"These prisoners represent the fastest growing
segment of the federal prison population."

DAR
This is misleading. See above. It seems
immigrant criminals are being channeled to this
Federal Bureau of Prisons which oversee only a
small total of all prisoners (maybe 8% or so in
1999).

QUOTE
"Over the past five years, an average of more
than 72,000 aliens have been arrested annually on
drug charges alone."

DAR
Getting arrested for drugs is like falling off
a log, it means very little. Conviction is what
counts. 1,846,400 people were arrested in 2005 on
drug charges.

LINK

So according to these numbers, 72,000
represents ONLY 4% of all drug arrests (and who
knows what definition of "alien" your dishonest
source is using this time). That's rather small
isn't it?

Gee Bill, "aliens" represent only 4% of those
getting arrested for drugs (probably the largest
category), yet were are to believe:

"criminal aliens account for over 29 percent of
prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities
and a higher share of all federal prison
inmates."

How did that come to be? What a load. What they
didn't tell you is the tiny percentage overseen
by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

D.

See also:

LINK

"In the past, most of them would have been free
to work and attend school as their cases moved
through immigration courts. “Prior to Hutto, they
were releasing people into the community,” says
Nicole Porter, director of the Prison and Jail
Accountability Project for the ACLU of Texas.
“These are non-criminals and nonviolent
individuals who have not committed any crime
against the U.S. There are viable alternatives to
requiring them to live in a prison setting and
wear uniforms.”

But as a result of increasingly stringent
immigration enforcement policies, today more than
22,000 undocumented immigrants are being
detained, up from 6,785 in 1995, according to the
Congressional Research Service. "

[Dardedar]

DAR
And more. I post this to help show people how to unpack political nonsense and spin.

-- Bill... wrote:
> In a GAO study of 55,322 illegal aliens in
> prison, there were 459,614
> arrests, 691,890 offenses, for an average of 13
> offenses per illegal alien.
>
> http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05646r.html

DAR
Fortunately I have a calculator so I don't get
fooled by elementary math tricks. 459 divided by
55 gives 8.3 "arrests per illegal alien."
Offenses aren't specified and could be very minor
infractions.
I checked the source. Here is a little
context:

"Several things should be noted regarding our
analysis. First, an arrest does not necessarily
result in a prosecution or a conviction"

No doubt a lot of it is driving without a
license, insurance or many of the other things
they can't legally participate in. More context:

"About 45 percent of all offenses were drug or
immigration offenses."

Well duh. Over staying your visa is an "offense."
And this represents 45% of the total!

Some people in any population are going to commit
criminal acts. Are they doing more than their
fair share? Lets see.

To quote the above source:

"we identified a population of 55,322 aliens that
the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) in the Department of Homeland Security
determined,
based upon information in its immigration
databases, had entered the country illegally and
were still illegally in the country at the time
of their incarceration in federal or state prison
or local jail during fiscal year 2003."

DAR
Note: as of June of 2005 the US had 2,186,230 in prison.

LINK

So, using my handy calculator I see that 55,322
represents right on 2.6% of the US prison population.

And, your same source, two paragraphs earlier says:

"A more recent study estimated that there were
about 10 million illegal aliens living in the
United States as of March 2005."

10 million is 3.3% of the US population. Thus,
we find that illegals are less likely, per
capita, to be in prison than legal citizens. Good
for them.

BILL article:
> Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of
> our prison population is now
> comprised of non-citizens.
>
> http://www.theamericanresistance.com/ar ... jan04.html

DAR
Well gee, funny they didn't quote where and
when Lou Dobbs said that (I wonder why?). Instead
we get this false piece of crap from "the
american resistance" which I have just debunked
above, using the very same source your source did
(an actual legitimate source).

I have asked you over and over. Why do you waste
your time reading such palpable crap. It just confuses you.

D.

Addendum

PS Just so people can see how racist and idiotic this "American Resistance" site is, I give two of their eight supposed "Myths & Lies of illegal immigration."

***
2. Mexico is NOT a poor country. By sending its teeming masses to our country, that status keeps on rising. Mexico has more resources per square mile than the U.S. and plenty of money to take care of its own people. Why should the taxpayers of this country subsidize Mexico's corruption?

3. Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here to work. Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.
***

Anyone want to take a swing at some of that nonsense?

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

I'd love to see, considering how hard it is for born-in-the-USA white citizens to get welfare, how undocumented aliens managed it. You don't just walk into Human Services and say "I'm poor, give me some money" and they hand it over (like congress hands money to W to give to Halliburton). The paperwork is daunting and the ID requirements are at least as tough as those to get a job (I-9 requires a social security card and a state-issued picture ID OR a passport - or some combination of documents proving you are who you say you are and that you are in this country legally). You have to prove who you are and why you fall into the category of people who get welfare - and then there's a time lag between when you apply, when you're approved, and when you actually get some help. Thank heavens for churches and their "feed the hungry" programs!

The biggest "crime" the illegals commit is working for cash "under the table", usually under minimum wage, and thus not paying social security - of course, their employers aren't paying social security on them (the other half of the reason they hire people, no questions asked, for cash in the first place).

[Doug]

DAR
2. Mexico is NOT a poor country. By sending its teeming masses to our country, that status keeps on rising. Mexico has more resources per square mile than the U.S. and plenty of money to take care of its own people. Why should the taxpayers of this country subsidize Mexico's corruption?

DOUG

The Mexican standard of living is way below the US or Europe. The minimum wage is 40 pesos per day, about £2.80, or $4 US Dollars. There is little or no welfare state and no unemployment benefit. Mexico is one of the 4 worst countries in Latin America for income distribution. In 1994 Forbes magazine published an article indicating that Mexico had the 4th highest number of billionaires in the world, after the United States, Japan and Germany. Many of these were created after the privatization of banks and telecoms in the 1990s

See here.

And many household items such as appliances cost as much in Mexico as in the U.S.

A better question:
Why does the U.S. have to get workers from other countries when we still have unemployment in the U.S?

Answer: U.S. employers are cheap and want to pay slave wages. We aren't subsidizing Mexican corruption, the U.S. employers are corrupt. They U.S. employers are the ones who want the undocumented workers so that they can save money by paying low wages.

3. Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here to work. Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.

That someone is a noncitizen does NOT automatically mean that the person came here illegally. Note how the writer above slides from "illegal alien" to "non-citizen" without missing a beat.

How many undocumented immigrants are in our prisons?

In 1995, there were 4,081 illegal aliens sentenced in federal district courts, 11 percent of the total sentenced.

Here.

And almost half of those convictions were just for unlawful entry into the U.S:

The major offenses for which illegal aliens were convicted in federal court in 1995 were unlawfully entering the United States (47 percent of the total), drug trafficking (27 percent), other immigration offenses (11 percent) and fraud (5 percent).

(Same source as above.)

And few undocumented immigrants are on welfare.