If Lou Dobbs’ head explodes will anyone notice?
Benders’ Immigration Daily linked me up to a 20 page report from the Immigration Policy Center on criminality among “illegals”
…Beause many immigrants to the United States, especially Mexicans and Central Americans, are young men who arrive with very low levels of formal education, popular stereotypes tend to associate them with higher rates of crime and incarceration. The fact that many of these immigrants enter the country through unauthorized channels or overstay their visas often is framed as an assault against the “rule of law,” thereby reinforcing the impression that immigration and criminality are linked. This association has flourished in a post-9/11 climate of fear and ignorance where terrorism and undocumented immigration often are mentioned in the same breath.
But anecdotal impression cannot substitute for scientific evidence. In fact, data from the census and other sources show that for every ethnic group without exception, incarceration rates among young men are lowest for immigrants, even those who are the least educated. This holds true especially for the Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans who make up the bulk of the undocumented population…
The problem of crime in the United States is not “caused” or even aggravated by immigrants, regardless of their legal status. But the misperception that the opposite is true persists among policymakers, the media, and the general public, thereby undermining the development of reasoned public responses to both crime and immigration.
I don’t expect to see this picked up by Lou, or Fox news and I’ll betcha no one else does either. At most, they’ll try to play “gotcha” with the right-wingers. I’m more than a little annoyed by the “left blogosphere” for buying into the anti-immigration crap and the shallow analysis of Latin America (with too many examples to chose from… I just picked one at random from) .
Come to think of it, outside “el blogosphero” there isn’t much said about immigration by the “left” other than how it plays to the voters. For now, let’s see what they do with this report…
C’mon guys… I’m waiting….
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mexfiles.net 
Steve Sailer and readers quickly pointed out the numerous flaws in this study’s reasoning:
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2007/02/lets-play-spot-fallacy.html
The entire reason illegal immigrants are less prone to crime than might be expected is probably a result of the fact that a large number of them arrive in the United States past the 18-24 year age when males commit the large bulk of their crimes. Unfortunately, most illegals are Hispanics and Hispanics commit several times more crime than whites do (even going off the report you cite). As a result, the fact that illegal immigrants don’t commit as much crime isn’t very encouraging, as the children and grandchildren of illegal immigrants more than make up for it. If you look at this report from a multigenerational angle, it isn’t encouraging at all.
You also failed to mention that the report doesn’t actually say that illegal immigrants are less prone to crime than Americans. It says that they are less prone to crime than their corresponding ethnic groups in the United States. You can look at the charts and see that Hispanic illegal immigrants still commit more crime than native white Americans. They just commit far less crime than native-born Hispanics. Not a very positive conclusion.
My bad, I was looking that stats for white immigrants (0.6) versus Hispanic immigrants (1.0). When white citizens (1.7) are compared to Hispanic immigrants (1.0), they commit more crime. However, when you consider native-born whites (1.7) versus native-born Hispanics (6.5), there is a tremendous difference in criminality. That is what we are facing in the children of illegal immigrants.
I appreciate your correction, but Steve Sailer isn’t a source I — or anyone who ever took a basic biology or statistics course — would take seriously. Normally, my references to him, or to his usual publication are in a different type face, with the warning that they are considered “white supremacist propaganda”.
— Unfortunately, most illegals are Hispanics and Hispanics commit several times more crime than whites do (even going off the report you cite).
— Two problems. “Hispanic” is not an ethnicity, but a statistical category, that could or could not include other ethnicities. Even if “race” were a factor, there is no way “Hispanics” are a race, including peoples of all ethnic strains and generally in very mixed categories that make it meaningless.
Secondly, it’s obvious that the amount of money and education one has also affect incarceration. Sailer and his ilk mistake the fact that most “whites” have more money and education for natural superiority and less propensity to crime (but, then, I’m of the radical theory that someone like Ken Lay was a lot worse criminal than somebody who just robs a liquot store, too).