Friday, February 11, 2011

CRIMES OF ILLEGALS - THE CRIME TIDAL WAVE

MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com


Government Data Imply High Immigrant Crime Rates; Findings Contradict Older Research Showing Low Rates



PRNewswire November 19, 2009

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Center for Immigration Studies has published a detailed report on immigration and crime based on a variety of recently released data, including some obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. The newer government data implies that immigrants have relatively high rates of crime. This contradicts older academic research that generally found low rates of crime. The overall picture of immigrants and crime remains confused due to conflicting information and a lack of good data.

The report, "Immigration and Crime: Assessing a Conflicted Issue," by Steven Camarota and Jessica Vaughan, is online at http:// cis.org/ImmigrantCrime

Among the findings:

-- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that immigrants

(legal and illegal) comprise 20 percent of inmates in prisons and jails.

The foreign-born are 15.4 percent of the nation's adult population.

However, DHS has not provided a detailed explanation of how the

estimates were generated.

-- Under contract to DHS in 2004, Fentress, Inc. reviewed 8.1 million

inmate records from state prison systems and 45 large county jails. They

found that 22 percent of inmates were foreign-born. But the report did

not cover all of the nation's jails.

-- The 287(g) program and related efforts have found high rates of

illegal-alien incarceration in some communities. But it is unclear if

the communities are representative of the country:

-- Maricopa County, Ariz.: 22 percent of felons are illegal aliens;

-- Lake County, Ill.: 19 percent of jail inmates are illegal aliens;

-- Collier County, Fla.: 20 to 22 percent of jail inmates and arrestees

are illegal aliens;

-- Weld County, Colo.: 12.8 to 15.2 percent of those jailed are illegal

aliens.

-- DHS states that it has identified 221,000 non-citizens in the nation's

jails. This equals 11 to 15 percent of the jail population. Non- citizens

are 8.6 percent of the nation's total adult population.

-- The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that 26.4 percent of inmates in

federal prisons are non-citizens. However, federal prisons are not

representative of prisons generally or local jails.

-- Recent reports by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and

Immigration Policy Center (IPC) showing low rates of immigrant

incarceration highlight the data problems in many studies. The 2000

Census data they used are not reliable.

-- An analysis of the data used in the PPIC and IPC studies by the National

Research Council found that 53 percent of the time the Census Bureau had

to make an educated guess whether a prisoner was an immigrant. The

studies are essentially measuring these guesses, not actual immigrant

incarceration.

-- The poor quality of data used in the PPIC and IPC studies is illustrated

by wild and implausible swings. It shows a 28 percent decline in

incarcerated immigrants 1990 to 2000 -- yet the overall immigrant

population grew 59 percent. Newer Census data from 2007 show a 146

percent increase in immigrant incarceration 2000 to 2007 -- yet, the

overall immigrant population grew only 22 percent.

-- The "Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities"

shows that 8.1 percent of prisoners in state prisons are immigrants

(legal and illegal). However, the survey excludes jails and relies on

inmate self-identification, which is likely to understate the number of

immigrants.

-- In 2009, 57 percent of the 76 fugitive murderers most wanted by the

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were foreign-born. It is likely

however that because immigrants can more readily flee to other

countries, they comprise a disproportionate share of fugitives.

-- Most studies comparing crime rates and immigration levels across cities

show no clear correlation between the immigrant share of a city's

population and its level of crime. This is one of the strongest

arguments that immigrants do not have high crime rates. However, such

studies generally measure only overall crime, not crimes specifically

committed by immigrants. Also, a 2009 analysis by DHS' Office of

Immigration Statistics found that crime rates were higher in

metropolitan areas that received large numbers of legal immigrants.

-- From 1998 to 2007, 816,000 criminal aliens were removed from the United

States because of a criminal charge or conviction. This is equal to

about one-fifth of the nation's total jail and prison population. These

figures do not include those removed for the lesser offense of living or

working in the country illegally. The removal and deportation of large

numbers of criminal aliens may reduce immigrant incarceration rates

because many will not return and re-offend, as is the case with many

native-born criminals.

-- Some have argued that the fall in overall national crime rates since the

early 1990s is evidence that immigration actually reduces crime.

However, overall crime rates are affected by many factors. Moreover, the

1970s and 1980s saw crime rates rise along with immigration levels.

-- Overall incarceration rates are also a poor means of examining the link

between immigration and crime. Since the 1970s, the share of the U.S.

population that is incarcerated has grown almost exactly in proportion

to the share of the population that is immigrant. But unless inmates can

be identified as immigrant or native-born this information sheds little

light on the issue of immigrant criminality.

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institution that examines the impact of immigration on the United States.

SOURCE Center for Immigration Studies

Originally published by Center for Immigration Studies.

*

Illegal immigrants, unlawful activities



Yakima Herald-Republic November 15, 2009

By Melissa Sanchez, Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash.

Nov. 15--YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Yakima County jail echoes with slamming steel doors and yelling prisoners as a federal agent sits down behind a computer with a list of inmates to interview.

Across the table is Julio Laguna Mendoza, a quiet 54-year-old arrested for drunken driving several days earlier. The computer shows he's no stranger to the system.

Laguna's been arrested a half-dozen times for illegally entering the country. Mug shots provide a time-sequence of Laguna aging after each arrest.

This time, he made it as far as Yakima. But it won't be long before he's deported again.

Few issues are more controversial or emotional than the impact illegal immigrants have on crime -- or how local law enforcement officers deal with illegal immigrants.

Immigrant-rights advocates insist that most are hard workers no more likely to commit crimes than citizens. Others blame illegal immigrants for a large share of the Yakima Valley's serious crime.

But getting an accurate picture has never been easy. To date, authorities say no specific research has been done on the impact of illegal immigration on the criminal justice system in Yakima County.

Local police, deputies and prosecutors say they don't know what percentage of crime immigrants commit because they don't ask suspects about their immigration status. Jailers don't keep statistics on whether inmates are here legally. And to some degree, federal agents seeking to identify immigration violators among the jail population must rely on what suspects say.

But a Yakima Herald-Republic analysis of county jail booking records for the month of October sheds some light on how many in the facility are suspected of violating immigration law and what local charges they face:

--Six percent of the more than 630 people booked into the jail on local charges in October were suspected of breaking immigration law and placed on federal hold.

(Immigrants who are not U.S. citizens account for just under 13 percent of Yakima County residents, according to a 2008 U.S. Census estimate. The census report did not distinguish between illegal immigrants and those here on visas.)

--Citizens and those placed on immigration holds were booked on felony charges at roughly equal rates, 28 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

--More than 60 percent of inmates with immigration holds were booked on traffic violations, such as driving without a license and negligent driving.

--Drunken driving, a gross misdemeanor, was the No. 1 charge against noncitizens.

Without extensive study, it's difficult to tell whether October was a statistically average month at the jail.

But local police officials, while repeatedly emphasizing they don't ask suspects about their immigration status, said the numbers weren't unexpected.

"It's not surprising at all," said Sunnyside deputy police chief Phil Schenck.

Authorities also agreed that jail bookings in October provide a fair snapshot of the Yakima Valley's demographics, which change with the agricultural calendar.

Exact comparisons are difficult, but the local rates are similar to those found in at least one study elsewhere on immigrants and criminality. A 2008 analysis by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California showed that while immigrants make up about 35 percent of that state's population, they account for 17 percent of the adult prison population.

Federal agents have been pulling illegal immigrants from local jails for years.

"We're focusing on the most egregious criminals or threats to the public," said Bryan Wilcox, deputy field office director with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Seattle.

"Anyone we encounter in the jail, regardless of the circumstances of how they got to jail, if they're not a U.S. citizen then were going to look at them."

The federal actions, however, are not without controversy.

Ann Benson, director of the Washington Defenders Association Immigration Project, said the federal program targeting inmates in local jails doesn't seek out the most serious criminal aliens.

It's an indiscriminate dragnet that rounds up as many immigrants as possible, she said.

"The overwhelming majority of the people being rounded up are fathers, sons and brothers who have families that rely on them and who are members of our communities," she said.

Others, however, want to see far more aggressive enforcement.

Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin regularly gets asked why immigration status isn't questioned when deputies are investigating a crime.

"We concentrate on the criminals committing crimes, not those people violating immigration law, because effective law enforcement is based on trust of the community," he said. "And if we have a large segment of the community that does not trust law enforcement, then the community as a whole is less safe because crime is not being reported."

Besides, police agencies have enough trouble keeping up with drug crimes and car thefts, he said.

"I've told so many groups I've talked to that if I could get rid of the stupid white people who are heavily involved in ... methamphetamine -- wow, that's where we'd really see the reduction in crime," he said.

"But the illegal immigrant is an easy target and a little too easy to blame for the ills that we have."

His stance -- echoed by other Yakima Valley law enforcement leaders, including Yakima police Chief Sam Granato -- frustrates people like Bob West.

West is the president of Grassroots of Yakima Valley, an organization that wants local law enforcement agencies to verify the legal status of everybody they encounter -- and to alert federal immigration authorities of possible illegal immigrants.

"Nobody checks up on it because it's not the politically correct thing to do," West said. "I'm not saying all illegal immigrants are criminals. But the illegals have broken at least one law. Who knows what percentage of illegal immigrants break other laws?"

Some of the Valley's most vocal opponents of illegal immigration recognize that immigrants don't commit a disproportionate amount of crime here.

But their U.S.-born children do, said Nick Hughes, a retired hops seller who has stood in front of Yakima City Council meetings to blame Hispanic immigrants for gang violence.

"Most of the gang members are (children of illegal immigrants)," he said. "If we hadn't allowed the illegal parents here, we wouldn't have the children here causing the gang problems."

Few -- including those in law enforcement -- will disagree with Hughes' assessment. Irwin called the trend a breakdown in immigrant families.

"They're hardworking people, for the most part, but the children ... are not being disciplined and parented as they should be," Irwin said.

Illegal immigration brings its share of problems, even if crime is not a major one, Irwin said.

Overburdened schools, social services and hospitals are among reasons why the federal government should find a solution to the nation's immigration problem -- whether it's a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants or mass deportation, he added.

"We've all been a part of this problem," Irwin said. "We're used to the services -- landscapers, construction, hotels, all of that, especially our agriculture industry has benefited from illegal immigration to a certain extent.

"We all need to be a part of a solution, whatever it may be."



*

No comments: