Illegal immigrants commit crimes at same rate than legal ones and US Citizens (NY Times)

[LaFeminist]

Save this stat for use against the lying Freepers and wingnuts in gen eral:

Phoenix’s police chief, Jack Harris, who opposes the new law, said that about 13 percent of his department’s arrests are illegal immigrants, a number close to the estimated percentage of illegal immigrants in the local population..

It is even possible that the crime rate is lower among illegal immigrants. From the same article, relying on several studies:

illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes, in part because they tend to come from interior cities and villages in their home country with low crime rates and generally try to keep out of trouble to not risk being sent home.

The article also makes clear that violence in the border has decreased lately, not increased, as conservatives want us to think: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/us/20crime.html?pagewanted=2&hp

[Lasher]

1. WTF is this?

If immigrants are illegal doesn't that mean 100% of them have committed a crime?

[LaFeminist]

2. We are referring to the crimes conservatives accuse illegal immigrants of committing

You know that this is what we are talking about.

[LaFeminist]

4. By the way, even Rudy Giuliani says it. Illegal immigration is a civil, not criminal matter

Therefore not a crime.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2007/09/08/2007-09-08_rudy_giuliani_being_an_illegal_immigrant-2.html

[Lasher]

7. Conflation is not a crime.

Lucky for you.

Every crime violates the law, but not every violation of the law counts as a crime.

Entering the country wiout permission is a violation of Title 8 of the U.S. criminal code. As such, it is a federal misdemeanor and a crime.

Illegal presence is not a crime. It is, however, a violation of civil immigration law.

Types of Immigration Enforcement
The INA (Immigration and Nationality Act) includes both criminal and civil components, providing both for criminal charges (e.g., alien smuggling, which is prosecuted in the federal courts) and for civil violations (e.g., lack of legal status, which may lead to removal through a separate administrative system in the Department of Justice). Being illegally present in the U.S. has always been a civil, not criminal, violation of the INA, and subsequent deportation and associated administrative processes are civil proceedings. For instance, a lawfully admitted nonimmigrant alien may become deportable if his visitor’s visa expires or if his student status changes. Criminal violations of the INA, on the other hand, include felonies and misdemeanors and are prosecuted in federal district courts. These types of violations include the bringing in and harboring of certain undocumented aliens (INA §274), the illegal entry of aliens (INA §275), and the reentry of aliens previously excluded or deported (INA §276).

CRS Report for Congress: Immigration Enforcement Within the United States, April 6, 2006

[depakid]

9. Wow- that didn't take long!

:eyes:

[blondeatlast]

3. But, hey, let's not let facts get in the way of a good ol' bigoted hatefest,

shall we?

Let the Teabaggers and Minutemen (and their DU apologists) have their fun. :banghead:

[pinboy3niner]

6. There are a LOT of misperceptions about immigration issues

Many mistakenly believe that crime and violence are increasing on the U.S. side of the border, that hordes of Mexicans are crossing the border (actually true--if you consider that they're heading SOUTH), that it's relatively easy for Mexican citizens to be admitted legally through the immigration process, and that not being legally present in the U.S. is automatically a federal crime.

Many also believe that recent anti-immigrant legislation is well-intentioned--completely unaware of the role played by racist groups such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and its Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) in writing these laws.

[Lasher]

8. True, there are lots of misperceptions.

From page 1 of the linked article, this says it pretty well:

Judith Gans, who studies immigration at the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the University of Arizona, said that what social psychologists call self-serving perception bias seemed to be at play. Both sides in the immigration debate accept information that confirms their biases, she said, and discard, ignore or rationalize information that does not.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/us/20crime.html?pagewanted=1&hp

[depakid]

10. It's well know in the sociological literature that immigrant communities (documented and otherwise)

lower crime rates- sometimes astonishingly so.

They also somewhat surprisingly- and for many of the same reasons, enjoy protective effects from many chronic conditions that afflict the population at large. It's called the Roseto effect.

[Omaha Steve]

5. K&R!