Anti-immigration demagogues frequently belabor the talking point that immigration (particularly the South of the border variety) leads to increased rates of violent crime. It’s an effective scare tactic — just talk to a random collection of white suburbanites and you’ll find quite a few who will agree with the statement that crime increases in relation to increased rates of immigration.
But does the fact that so many people are willing to believe “more immigration equals more crime,” make it true? Well, the short answer to that question (Hat tip to Marginal Revolution) is No, It Does Not:
[E]vidence points to increased immigration as a major factor associated with the lower crime rate of the 1990’s (and its recent leveling off).
Continued below the fold . . .
Hispanic Americans do better on a range of various social indicators — including propensity to violence — than one would expect given their socioeconomic disadvantages. My colleagues and I have completed a study in which we examined 8,000 Chicago residents who were asked about the characteristics of their neighborhoods.
Surprisingly, we found a significantly lower rate of violence among Mexican-Americans than among blacks and whites…Indeed, the first-generation immigrants (those born outside the United States) in our study were 45 percent less likely to commit violence than were third-generation Americans, adjusting for family and neighborhood background. Second-generation immigrants were 22 percent less likely to commit violence than the third generation.
Our study further showed that living in a neighborhood of concentrated immigrants is directly associated with lower violence (again, after taking into account a host of factors…)
Other studies support the conclusion that immigrant populations are less likely to commit serious crimes, not more likely. So why do so many people tend to believe increased immigration leads to an increase in crime? Let me answer that with a quote from the last journal article I linked to above, On Immigration and Crime, co-authored by Ramiro Martinez, Jr., Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida International University, and Matthew T. Lee, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Akron:
Historically, public opinion about immigration, and the immigrant-crime link especially, has been formed by stereotypes more often than reliable empirical data . . .
And public opinion is still being driven by those who would rely on such cheap stereotypes to foster prejudice toward, and fear of, hispanic immigrants. Courtesy of Dave Neiwert at Orcinus and Talk Check (a site devoted to fact checking talk radio), I came across this recent example of racist demagoguery by a Seattle area talk show radio host, John Carleson:
CARLSON: I think what bothers people is not that we have Mexicans up here working, but that we have a lot of them staying, and we’ve seen a rise in crime and the affect on schools and other things, and taxpayer dollars and things like that.
Of course, as Dave Niewert and the folks at Talk Check point out, crime statistics for the State of Washington show a dramatic decrease in crime even as immigration into Washington State has been on the rise. As we all know, however, right wing conservatives rarely let the truth get in the way of a politically convenient lie.
Stereotypes and fear of the other (especially this year the illegal alien Hispanic other) are one of the prime strategies they hope to ride to another Congressional electoral victory in the Fall. God knows they have nothing else to run on, considering the hash Republican control of both Congress and the Presidency has made of our country.
What progressives need to do is be proactive. We need to be getting the word out through the blogs and, whenever possible, in traditional media outlets, that once again Republicans are lying about an issue (in this case immigration), hoping to generate fear and prejudice among voters whom they hope will keep them in power come Election Day. I urge everyone to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper pointing out the lie that immigration causes crime, or to email your favorite cable news show (Countdown anyone) which might be interested in doing a story on how Republicans and conservatives are warping the truth about immigration.
One thing we know for certain: Republicans aren’t going to back off this issue, nor will they stop telling lies about the true effects of immigration on this country. Fear is the only weapon they know will work for them. Fear of terrorists, fear of evildoers, and now fear of brown skinned immigrants. Let’s do our best to neuter their weapons of mass deception before they can go any further with them.
One lie at a time.
