The Goodness of Illegal Immigrants
The next time you hear some anti-illegal immigrant blowhard make reference to a story in which an undocumented immigrant commits a crime that results in the injury or death of an American citizen, point them to this story, in which an undocumented immigrant saves a life.
If we're going to count up the good and bad deeds of folks to determine their worthiness to be in this country, I can promise you that among the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States, there are millions more acts of kindness, and probably thousands of such acts of kindness that actually directly save lives, than the miniscule number of cases where an undocumented immigrant harms or kills another person.
Among all the possible reasons for being an immigration hardliner, pointing to crimes committed by undocumented migrants is not a legitimate one. It's really nothing more than a red herring. Remember that.
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5 comments:
Eric - I'm not saying pointing out the good deeds of undocumented immigrants is an argument for a more liberal immigration policy. All I'm saying is that pointing out the bad deeds of undocumented immigrants (or the good deeds, for that matter) are red herring arguments. For every bad deed someone points out as a rationale for a hardline stance, I could point out many more good deeds that could be used as a rationale for a more liberal position. I think we would be better served in the debate over immigration policy without introducing such irrelevant polemics.
I agree that singling out specific incidents doesn't really lend any credibility to the argument (for either side), and furthermore I wish the media would report on positive stories much more often, regardless of the citizenship status of the people involved.
However, while I must admit that conservatives are often horribly inept at discussing it in a tactful manner, I do think it is a valid point to bring up the increased crime rates that accompany a large population of illegal immigrants, and this is especially true in places like Arizona where such populations make it a very real and pronounced issue at the local level. As somebody who would eventually like to see more LEGAL immigration in our nation, I think it is harmful to that cause to dismiss those concerns as red herrings.
Eric - I'd like to see the source of your statistics that indicates undocumented immigrants commit more crimes in much higher percentages than other populations. Because the evidence I've seen indicates just the opposite. Here's one example: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/arizona%E2%80%99s-punishment-doesn%E2%80%99t-fit-crime-studies-show-decrease-arizona-crime-rates.
Eric - Conservatives are justified in using whatever statistics they want in the immigration debate if the social science behind the statistics is solid. My objection always has been to the singling out of individual criminal behavior as a general argument for opposing any kind of liberal immigration policy or reform. I am pretty well versed in Latin American and Latino affairs, and I have never seen any arguments about undocumented immigrant populations being disproportionately involved in drug-trafficking, drunk driving, and identity theft crimes relative to other groups in our society. I don't think there is anything well-established about this line of argument at all, much less so as to make it uncontroversial.
As to the article I linked to, if one does the math, I think it makes logical sense to think that even if crime rates all over the US declined, the fact that the undocumented immigrant population increased substantially over that same time period would certainly question the notion that undocumented immigrants are linked positively to higher crime rates.
I happen to think that crime rates have more to do with poverty and joblessness than with immigration status.
Also, Eric, from the same source, here's another link that addresses more specifically the rate of immigrant crime levels via incarceration statistics versus the native-born: http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/just-facts/immigrants-and-crime-are-they-connected-century-research-finds-crime-rates-immigrants-are. Incarceration rates are not perfect indicators and don't address misdemeanor infractions, but they are concrete ones and provide some baseline for comparison.
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