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Immigration and Crime

Separating Fact from Fiction: The Truth about Kidnapping in Arizona

An oft-repeated claim in the debate over Arizona’s harsh anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, is that tough immigration-enforcement measures are needed to prevent violent crime from engulfing the state.  In particular, supporters of SB 1070 often cite kidnappings in the state’s capital, Phoenix, as a reason to crack down on unauthorized immigrants.  Arizona politicians such as U.S. Senator John McCain and State Senator Russell Pearce, for instance, have justified their calls for more immigration enforcement by claiming that Phoenix is the “the number two kidnapping capital of the world” after Mexico City.  Not only is this claim false, but it ignores two inconvenient facts.  First of all, the victims of most kidnappings in Phoenix are unauthorized immigrants.  Second, crime rates in Arizona have been falling for years.  Cracking down on the unauthorized immigrants upon whom so many kidnappers prey is a classic case of blaming the victim.  Moreover, this blame-the-victim posture diverts attention from the fact that the broken U.S. immigration system has created a lucrative market for kidnappers.

The claim that Phoenix is “the number two kidnapping capital of the world” is untrue.Read more...

Published On: Thu, Aug 26, 2010 | Download File

Truth Held Hostage: Dissecting the Lies about Kidnapping in Arizona

Arizona politicians who support the state’s sweeping anti-immigrant law (SB 1070) are not particularly fond of facts.  For instance, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) has made all manner of ludicrous statements about unauthorized immigrants typically carrying drugs, killing cops, and leaving headless bodies in the desert.  But the most hypocritical of the anti-immigrant statements made by politicians such as Brewer concern kidnapping.  Not only do Brewer and company pretend that kidnappers are lurking behind every corner in Arizona, but they usually neglect to mention that unauthorized immigrants are the primary victims of the kidnappings that do occur.  In other words, the kidnapping of unauthorized immigrants is being used as a justification to crack down on unauthorized immigrants.  This is a nonsensical policy that attacks the victims rather than the perpetrators of the crime.

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Published On: Thu, Aug 26, 2010 | Download File

Reforming America's Immigration Laws: A Woman's Struggle

While immigrant communities across the nation endure the long wait for immigration reform, there are roughly 19 million immigrant women and girls currently in the U.S. Immigrant women, particularly the undocumented, are often more vulnerable than their male counterparts, lack the same economic opportunities, and experience exploitation while crossing the border, while working and even in their own homes. In short, immigrant women have become the silent victims of a broken immigration system.

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Published On: Mon, Jun 28, 2010 | Download File

New FBI Data Confirms Falling Crime Rates in Arizona

Violent Crimes Are Down in the State’s Three Largest Cities

Many supporters of Arizona’s harsh new anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, continue to insist that the law is, in part, a crime-fighting measure.  However, the latest crime statistics released by the FBI confirm what previous data had already indicated: that Arizona is in the midst of a years-long decline in violent crime that pre-dates SB 1070, despite the growing number of unauthorized immigrants in the state during those same years.  Specifically, preliminary data released by the FBI on May 24, when compared to data from previous years, reveals that the numbers of violent crimes as a whole, and murders in particular, have been trending downwards for years in Arizona’s three largest cities: Phoenix, Tucson, and Mesa.  Arizona’s falling crime rates, together with a century’s worth of evidence indicating that immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than the native-born, cast serious doubt on the claims of some SB 1070 supporters that the law is in any way a useful crime-fighting tool.

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Published On: Thu, Jun 17, 2010 | Download File

Q&A Guide to Arizona's to New Immigration Law

What You Need to Know About the New Law and How It Can Impact Your State 

Barely a month after passage of Arizona’s tough new immigration law (SB 1070), both opponents and proponents are attempting to assess the impact the new law may have on residents of Arizona—citizens and immigrants alike. At the same time, approximately 22 states (at last count) are considering similar legislation. Multiple lawsuits have been filed challenging the constitutionality of the law, opponents are mounting a boycott, and numerous polls show that a majority of the public both supports the Arizona law and comprehensive immigration reform.

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Published On: Wed, Jun 02, 2010 | Download File

The Legal Challenges and Economic Realities of Arizona's SB 1070

Lawsuits  |  Economics  |  Crime  |  Problematic Training  |  Faith  |  State Legislation  |  A History  |  Blog Posts

The Law

What is SB 1070 and how does it work? How will SB 1070 impact your state? This guide provides key answers to basic questions about Arizona’s law—from the substance of the law and myths surrounding it to the legal and fiscal implications. As other states contemplate similar legislation, knowing the answers to basic questions about Arizona’s law will prove to be critically important in furthering the discussion.

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Published On: Tue, May 11, 2010 | Download File

Arizona’s Punishment Doesn’t Fit the Crime: Studies Show Decrease in Arizona Crime Rates

Updated 06/22/10

Supporters of Arizona’s harsh new immigration law claim that it is, in part, a crime-fighting measure.  For instance, the bill’s author, Republican State Senator Russell Pearce of Mesa, confidently predicts that the law—which requires police to investigate the immigration status of anyone who appears to be unauthorized—will result in “less crime” and “safer neighborhoods.”  However, Sen. Pearce overlooks two salient points: crime rates have already been falling in Arizona for years despite the presence of unauthorized immigrants, and a century’s worth of research has demonstrated that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born.  While much has been made about kidnappings in Arizona, law-enforcement officials indicate that most of these involve drug smugglers and human smugglers, as well as smuggled immigrants themselves—not the general population of the state.  Combating crime related to human smuggling requires more trust between immigrants and the police, not less.  Yet the undermining of trust between police and the community is precisely what Arizona’s new law accomplishes.  In the final analysis, immigration policy is not an effective means of addressing crime because the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.

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Published On: Wed, Apr 28, 2010 | Download File

New Data on Federal Court Prosecutions Reveal Non-Violent Immigration Prosecutions Up

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reports that federal immigration prosecutions rose to record levels during fiscal year (FY) 2009.  In the past, federal court resources were appropriately allocated to pursue immigration-related prosecutions against individuals with criminal backgrounds.  Recently, however, priorities have shifted, and large numbers of federal immigration prosecutions have focused on non-violent border crossers, creating the appearance that immigrants are committing more crimes. However, the fact is -- the federal government’s shift in resources has meant spending billions of dollars prosecuting non-violent immigration violators while more serious criminals involved in drugs, weapons, and organized crime face a lower probability of prosecution.

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Published On: Thu, Feb 04, 2010 | Download File

The Immigration Policy Center's Top 10 Resources of 2009

As the year comes to a close, The Immigration Policy Center brings you its top 10 list of resources from 2009.  

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Published On: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 | Download File

Summary of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009

Summary of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP) of 2009.

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Published On: Tue, Dec 15, 2009 | Download File