Americans Experience Immigration Problems At Canadian Border
Record Numbers of Criminals Deported in 2007, According to ICE
According to data reported in the Washington Post, immigration officials for the U.S.'s Immigration and Customs Enforcement office have increased their deportation for criminals by several multiples. Throughout 2007, the United States placed 164,000 criminals in deportation proceedings, a drastic rise from the 64,000 that the department had processed in deportation in 2006.
Future predictions are that deportation of criminals will continue its upward trend, with the number expected to reach 200,000 criminals deported this year.
Where are all these criminals coming from Officials aren't, in fact, clearing illegal immigrants out of detention in prisons, as one might expect from such a characterization. The rise in numbers of deported criminals has more to do with stepping up action on making sure that illegal immigrants arrested and tried are not able to slip by unnoticed, as well as acting more immediately on those legal immigrants whose visas were revoked because of a criminal conviction.
Those in the ICE who were trumpeting their department's success in the area viewed technology as the most important improvement in their effectiveness. They mentioned information-sharing via databases to cross-reference illegal immigrants with local law enforcement as an important new and more effective tactic they routinely employ.
Part of that newfound collaboration with law enforcement at a local level comes as a result of conscious efforts by police officers and others such as probation officers who will contact ICE or research immigration status if they encounter a potential illegal immigrant.
However, some are worried that this new strategy comes at the price of unfairness in prosecuting suspected illegal immigrants, bringing minor charges to court or even, in some cases, falsified or trumped up charges in order to bring the immigration status of the individual to light.
Even legal immigrants with permanent residence status can be deported if convicted of an "aggravated felony", according to an immigration law passed in 1996.
Illegal Immigrants Make Up a Huge Percentage of CA Jail Populations: True or False?
Think twice before you answer. Remember, California had the largest number of immigrants in 2007, nearly 10 million according to a Center for Immigration Studies analysis, and has the largest share of its state population embodied by immigrants and their U.S.-born children (37.8%, as well as an astonishing 50.0% in Los Angeles County alone).
But a new immigration and crime report published by the Public Policy Institute of California demonstrates a startling trend: immigrants are much less likely than U.S.-born citizens to commit a crime. The report, titled "Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It?", found that among men ages 18-40, statistically the most likely to commit a crime, U.S.-born men were 10 times more likely than foreign-born men to be in jail.
Furthermore, the report's abstract continues, "Even among noncitizen men from Mexico ages 18-40 - a group disproportionately likely to have entered the United States illegally - the authors find very low rates of institutionalization." Some cities associated with a high influx of immigrants in California actually saw a decrease in crime during the same period.
Another detail from their research is rather surprising: the education level seems not to matter. When considering similarly-educated 18-40-year-old men among native citizens and foreign-born citizens in the U.S., the difference in the incarceration rate grows even greater. The authors suggest that in light of this data, educational requirements for visa application may not have a positive effect on such a phenomenon.
Regardless, these very different tales suggest how difficult shaping immigration policy is due to the fact that public perception and the facts on the ground may be wildly divergent. Even as deportation of criminals is stepped up across the United States, we may be wondering if the effort will have the desired effect at all.