Crime Plays Role of Red Herring In Illegals Debate

There's a talk going on tonight at the Prescott Library about the relationship between Arizona and Mexico, the similarities and the differences. I don't know if the idea was to foster understanding and enlighten Arizonans who are demonizing Mexicans as illegal aliens or if it was a long-planned cultural event, but I think it will be interesting to see what kind of turn-out it gets.

In the past few years as the economy has soured, there has been a tendency to place blame on any identifiable group for what's occurred. It's not so easy to point the finger at Wall Street firms, investment bankers, mortgage companies and our own government regulators -- the issues are complex and greed has guided both investors and investees. But hey, illegal immigrants are simple bad guys who make great targets.

One of the main reasons given for Arizona's passage of the Senate bill 1070 is an increase in crime along the border. There are absolutely no facts to back up this assertion. None. In fact, FBI statistics show that violent crime has steadily dropped over the past four years -- by an astounding 1,500 incidents. Property crimes posted from 2005-2008, the latest figures available, have also plummeted by 8,000. During the same period, the state population grew by 600,000 people.

Statistics on any crime committed by illegal immigrants is difficult to pinpoint, but judging from the stories I read in the newspapers, I'd say the vast majority of violent crimes in this state are committed by angry unemployed middle-aged white men with guns.

In addition to lower crime, there are far fewer people sneaking into the country. As a matter of fact, the peak year was in 2000 before 9/11 when 600,000 illegal border crossers were caught. In 2009, it was only 241,000.

So why did the bill get enough momentum to pass? It was the backlash to the death of a border rancher by a drug smuggler who shot him as he was heading back into Mexico. This is not an epidemic of crime. The state senator who introduced the bill, Russell Pearce, has been photographed chumming around with white Supremacists. The bill was written by a Republican functionary from Missouri. It's purely a political issue that's being used to whip up fear among conservatives, especially since John McCain may be in trouble for the first time in decades in his bid for re-election as a U.S. Senator. This is one issue that I think will backfire on both a state and national level as the federal government is forced to step in and create reasonable immigration laws for our neighbor in the South.

A lot of upset people are only too happy to say they support the law, even though it does nothing more than the law in Phoenix's Maricopa County already does -- police there have been questioning people apprehended in crimes about their citizenship for years. The difference now it that they have the full blessing of the state to do so and to put people in jail who may have been living here for years if they have a broken tail light on their car. Talk about an austere policy.

I could not imagine how this law would go over in New York. Certainly Long Island has had its own issues with illegal immigrants living 20 to a house in Farmingdale, for instance, or committing crimes against each other. I was on a grand jury once in Suffolk County and immunity had to be given to illegals to get them to testify about murders that occurred against their own people. That will become nearly impossible to achieve in this state with the kind of law that instantly criminalizes them, despite assurances to the contrary.

In New York, also, there are illegal immigrants from just about every country in the world. Some just overstay their visas, some fell in love but did not marry, some are working as long as the work lasts before heading home. Some shouldn't be here. Some blend right in. But as long as we live in a free society, not a police state, there will be some who do not follow legal procedure. If we are a compassionate country, we will do the right thing and make a judgment as to whether they should be deported or not, and try to keep an open door policy overall.