« ACLU Issues Practice Advisory on Prolonged Detention and Bond Eligibility | Main | More on Passport denial to midwife-born U.S. citizens »
September 10, 2008
Press Release on Immigration and Crime from the Immigration Policy Center
Immigration Policy Center (IPC)
...providing factual information about immigration and immigrants in the United States.
For Immediate Release
Congressional Event Perpetuates Myth of Immigrant Criminality
Crime forum overlaps with restrictionist organization's lobby days
September 10, 2008
Washington, DC- Tomorrow morning, Republican members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration are regrettably perpetuating the persistent myth of immigrant criminality with their forum on "The Toll of Illegal Alien Criminals on American Families." Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Steve King (R-Iowa) are spearheading tomorrow's conversation.
Numerous studies by independent researchers and government commissions over the past 100 years have consistently found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born. This holds true for both legal immigrants and the undocumented, regardless of their country of origin or level of education.
It's not likely a coincidence that Smith and King's forum is happening during the same week that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is lobbying Congress, demanding an impractical and hateful agenda of mass deportations, worksite raids, and other expensive and ultimately ineffective approaches as part of their "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" gathering. The Republican forum is even featuring some of the same witnesses who participated in FAIR's rally this afternoon.
It is disappointing to see law makers Smith and King--along with their fellow congressmen Darrell Issa (R-CA), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who attended FAIR's rally today--tarnish the Republican brand by supporting the agenda of FAIR, an organization designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It is especially troubling to see law-makers exploit the pain of the victims of these terrible crimes to promote their political motives. There is no doubt that dangerous criminals must be punished, and that immigrants who are dangerous criminals should not be allowed to enter the US or should be deported if they already are here. But exploiting the profound painful loss of crime victims to spread the myth that immigrants are criminals is irresponsible and disingenuous.
Fact Sheet from the Immigration Policy Center:
"From Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime" (Washington, DC: September 2008).
ra
September 10, 2008 | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341bfae553ef0105349ec0e1970c
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Press Release on Immigration and Crime from the Immigration Policy Center:
Comments
Steve King has an opponent: Rob Hubler. He is running a gutsy grassroots campaign. Joe Trippi has signed on to help him, and so has Russ Feingold. He is the real deal--a progressive in a red district with polling that says he could win. If you want to do something about this wacko, go give Rob some love.
Posted by: 2laneIA | Sep 10, 2008 11:26:50 PM
Steve King has an opponent: Rob Hubler. He is running a gutsy grassroots campaign. Joe Trippi has signed on to help him, and so has Russ Feingold. He is the real deal--a progressive in a red district with polling that says he could win. If you want to do something about this wacko, go give Rob some love.
Posted by: 2laneIA | Sep 10, 2008 11:29:12 PM
'hateful agenda of mass deportations, worksite raids...'
Help me out, guys (and gals). When groups like this throw the hate label around all the time, do they mean hate in a general sense which can be race neutral, i.e., dislike because they are in violation of law. Or...
Are do they mean the meaning of hate as in hate speech/crime, i.e., bias against race, religion, orientation, etc. I suspect they are implying ethnic bias that but it's not specific like with the 'ethnic cleansing' charges. My sense is that when anti-immigration law enforcement advocates use the word hate they are implying that people arrested are being targeted based on their ethnicity. Is that a fair assessment?
Posted by: Jack | Sep 11, 2008 6:19:19 AM
Jack, they don't mean either one. The purpose of the labels is to marginalize and demonize their opponents so others won't take them seriously. After all, who wants to be on the side of a racist, hate-monger.
It's cynical, but it works.
See Censorship by Demonization for a good discussion of the tactic.
Posted by: peter | Sep 13, 2008 1:06:17 AM
