The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Immigration Facts the Media Ignore

Posted on | June 24, 2018 | Comments Off on Immigration Facts the Media Ignore

In January, Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a speech in Norfolk, Virginia, and shared some facts that the media habitually ignore:

Any crime committed by improperly vetted immigrants — and especially illegal aliens — is, by definition, preventable. Even one victim of a crime committed by an illegal alien is too many. Criminals have no right to demand entry to the United States. We should strive to never admit criminals. And yet thousands of Americans across our country have suffered because of decades of lax immigration policies and even more lax enforcement.
Last month, we released another report with the Department of Homeland Security, which revealed that there were nearly 40,000 known or suspected aliens in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons. That’s roughly one in five federal prisoners. That means that the immigrant share of the federal prison population is nearly two-thirds greater than their share of the general population.
Out of those in custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for housing those awaiting trial, nearly 20,000 were foreign-born. That is more than one third. And nearly triple their share of the general population.
I’m sure you’ve heard that immigrants are less likely to commit a crime than average. But one study that just came out looked at the prison population in Arizona and found that illegal aliens are more than twice as likely to be convicted of crimes as Arizonans.
They’re more likely to be convicted of sexual assault, robbery, and driving under the influence. They’re more than twice as likely to be convicted of murder.
Tens of thousands of crimes have been committed in this country that would never have happened if our immigration laws were enforced and respected like they ought to be.
Just three days ago, an illegal alien from Mexico living in Southern California was charged with rape of an intoxicated victim and first-degree burglary. He’s a driver for a ride-sharing company. He allegedly took advantage of intoxicated female passengers who got into his car. Under the laws of this country, he shouldn’t even be here.

Do we have a shortage of criminals in the United States? Do our prisons have empty cells because we don’t have enough rapists and murderers? Are our police officers sitting around bored, with nothing to do all day, because not enough people are breaking the law to keep the cops busy?

You see that the Attorney General is not suggesting that all, or even most, immigrants are criminals. The point is that, when we compare two groups — people born in the U.S. versus immigrants —  the latter group has a higher rate of crime, which might lead us to a simple conclusion: More immigration means more crime. Such a simple conclusion may be true, without being either fair or accurate. Let me explain . . .

If we have a large number of illegal aliens (who have shown a willingness to break the law simply by being here) who are lumped into the larger category “immigrants,” along with people who have obeyed the laws and followed the rules, then we may suspect that it is the illegals who are most responsible for the higher categorical crime rate. If this suspicion is correct, stricter enforcement of immigration laws, by reducing the number of illegals, would also lower the overall rate of crime among all immigrants, including illegal aliens, because they would have fewer law-breaking associates with whom to engage in drug trafficking, etc.

If the American people were made aware of facts like those reported by the Attorney General, every intelligent person would understand this. You don’t need a Ph.D. in sociology, but just basic common sense, to see why stricter enforcement of immigration laws would yield benefits for everyone, including immigrants themselves. Wouldn’t the average Hispanic citizen encounter less prejudice if, because of strict enforcement, his neighbors didn’t have a reason to suspect he might be here illegally? Wouldn’t residents of predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods be safer if there were fewer illegal aliens among them?

Conservatives would gladly welcome a discussion of immigration based on a full consideration of facts, but liberals don’t want such a discussion. Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) are engaged in promoting dishonest partisan propaganda, falsely smearing Republicans as “racist,” and many Republicans are so afraid of this smear that they will do anything to appease the open-borders lobby. America is therefore having a fact-deficient political screaming match about immigration, rather than the kind of discussion that might lead to policies that would benefit everyone, including immigrants. One thing is clear, however: Democrats are no more interested in improving the lives of foreign immigrants than they are in improving the lives of Americans. Democrats care only about gaining power (i.e., winning midterm congressional elections) and they are willing to tell any lie, or suppress any fact, to achieve that goal.



 

 

Category: Democrats, Immigration, Media Bias

Comments

Comments are closed.