Does Immigration Fuel Crime? Without Statistical Consensus, Rhetoric And Fear Reign In Debate
by Cristina Costantini
11/15/11
The border town of El Paso, Texas is considered to be the safest big city in the country, according to some estimates.
With a sizable undocumented population and immediate proximity to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, known for drug cartel violence, El Paso's relative tranquility has baffled many, especially those who equate undocumented immigration with increased rates of violent crimes.
To researchers such as Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University, El Paso is safe precisely because of its high number of immigrants.
"If you want to find a safe city, first determine the size of the immigrant population," Levin said in an interview with Reason Magazine.
"If the immigrant community represents a large proportion of the population, you're likely in one of the country's safer cities," he added. "San Diego, Laredo, El Paso -- these cities are teeming with immigrants, and they're some of the safest places in the country."
In the national immigration debate, those who support stronger enforcement policies often justify their hard line with the argument that immigrants commit violent crime in their new-found communities at high rates. But critics say numbers don't support this reasoning...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/immigration-crime-statistics_n_1089164.html
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