Increased Immigration Rates Result in More Crimes - Thesis Example

Whether or not, greater (increased) immigration rates result in more crimes That increased immigration rates result in more crimes is a notion that can be accorded credence. Statistical provisions also come in handy, in proving the nexus that exists between increased immigration and higher crime rates. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave estimation to the effect that both legal and illegal immigrants make up 20% of Americas adult population. The same DHS proceeds to state that 22% of the inmates out of the 8.1 inmate records from 45 large county jails and the US state prison system were found to be foreign-born. The DHS continued that it identified 22,000 non-citizen US inmates who totaled 11-15% of the American jail population. The state of affair above means that there is a correlation between increased immigration and the rising cases of crime since the immigrants who form a crucial part of this debate are the very perpetrators of crime in the United States. For instance, in line with this rationale is the disclosure by the Pew Hispanic Center which pointed out that in 2007, those sentenced for federal crimes were largely non-US citizens Hispanics who accounted for 74% of the immigration offenders. The same accounted for 25% of drug offenders, 6% of firearms offenders, and 8% of the white collar crimes perpetrators. This statistical provision above is of great interest, given that non-native Hispanics account for 5.1% of the nations adult population. In the same vein, the Federal Bureau of Prison corroborates the statement by the Pew Hispanic Center to state that 26.4% of inmates that are incarcerated in federal prisons are non-US citizens. The seriousness of the mater is underscored by the fact that these illegal immigrants are small enough to comprise a paltry 8.6% of the US adult population. The rationale herein is that if a small population such as the non-US citizen can account for the inordinately high rates of crime and prison population, then the situation can turn into a tragedy if the number of the illegal immigrants in the US increases. In another wavelength, there are other observers such as XXXX who point out that the concomitance between increased immigration and high rates of crime is too strong to be gainsaid. XXX points out that illegal immigration in itself is a crime, and therefore, it could suffice to moderate the question. XXXX points out that this is because, illegal immigration is not only a crime, but it has steadily scaled upwards since 1995. In Maricopa County, 22% of felons are illegal immigrants; in Collier County, 22% of prison inmates are illegal immigrants; in Lake County, 19% of prison inmates are illegal immigrants; and in Weld County, 15.2% of prison inmates are illegal aliens. According to the FBI Uniform Crime Report Straining the limited national resources available Strain on prisons On the other hand there are some sources that indicate the opposite, for instance in a survey carried out in 2010 in Californian most nine percent Californians identified the issue of immigration as the most important in the state, in a similar poll conducted two months before only three percent of Californians identified the immigrations issue as a top priority, what could be the explanation for the six percentage jump over the course of several months? Notably the governor of Arizona had signed a law with restrictions against noncitizens, on the 23rd of April 2010, this time period fall in between the those two surveys. It is a legislation that stirred public debate the enforcement of immigration and the local governments’ and states’ role that continue to date. One of the general underlying assumptions of the Arizona legislation is that a nexus exists between crime and immigration. Arguing that noncitizens are the perpetrators of the increasing crime and hence it states should come in and enforce immigration laws. Locally, some incumbent and potential elected state officials support this perception that the State of California and the nations at large is plagued by a crime epidemic, cause to a large measure by the immigrants who have not been documented, For instance a candidate for the California Republic Senate; Carly Fiorina ,stated that she supported the efforts to protect the citizens, stating that it was a reflection if their fear and frustration. Duncan Hunter, a congressman described san Diego; which is his home town as being plagued by substantial murders on the border, illegal immigrations, and a lot of drugs importation. Another senior California member of congress Ed Royce, wrote that violence along the United States and Mexican border increases at an alarming rate. Whether these statements reflect the real state of events in the State of California, which harbors the largest population in the nation which is foreign born, is entirely a different matter. A paper by XXXX examined serious property and violent crimes at a State wide level within California along the south west counties and within all other southern counties in California, most of data used featured immigrants born in a foreign country, their demographics including persons having permission for residing in the U.S for Travel, education or work reasons, those that entered U.S on unauthorized basis and also those who possessed U.S. citizenship. Data from the Department of justice and the department of Finance indicate that during the period of new immigration, crime had shown a steady and large decline in the State of California. From the year 1991 to 2008 it was approximated by the Department of Finance that that three million six hundred and sixty seven thousand eight hundred and eighty six persons who were foreign-born that migrated to California. While it is hard to come up with the exact proportions of the immigrants with no authorization, the Pew Hispanic center approximates that on third of the increase in foreign-born in California was comprised of unauthorized immigrants. Interestingly during this 1991 – 2008 period there was a dramatic decline in crimes in California reports to the police. The rate of crime per a hundred thousand residents including robbery, aggravated assault and rape had dropped by fifty five percent in past eighteen years. Figure 1 below shows the trends, which contrasts in foreign born immigrants against foreign crime rates including grand larceny, auto theft,   arson and burglary also declined by twenty nine percent ranging from the year 1991 to 2008 The trend is almost similar for those counties located in the California and Mexico border, where the nexus of entries that is unauthorized and crime is presumed to be most direct Figures 2 and 3 show trends in foreign born immigrants and violent crime rates for Imperial counties and San Diego, California’s two border jurisdictions. San Diego County  Received two hundred and fifty eight thousand nine hundred and seventy three foreign‐born persons from 1991 to 2008 and the violent crime rate went  down by fifty eight percent while the rate of serious property crimes reduced by thirty five percent.      In Imperial County there were forty thousand three hundred and six new foreign born immigrants from 1991to2008 while the rate of violent crime dropped by fifty three percent and the serious property crime rate  fell by thirteen percent.       Just like the border counties, The county of Los Angeles has long been a destination for new immigrants. From 1991to2008, there were 1,360,814 one million three hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred and fourteen immigrants from other countries who moved to the county of Los Angeles. During this time span the rate of violent crime within the County declined by sixty eight percent and the serious property crime rate reduced by forty two percent.   Figure 4 shows the relationship of violent crime rates aganist foreign‐born immigration for  Los Angeles County.    XXX During this Why, or why not? Provide explanation and rationale based on documentation based on county, state, or federal crime data. How has this affected state immigration laws such as being considered in the States of Arizona, Georgia, and Alabama? References Taft, D. R. (1993). Does Immigration Increase Crime? Social Forces, 12 (1), 69-77. Read More