A major part of the reasoning for Arizona’s alarming new law, S.B. 1070, is a presumed uptick in crime from undocumented immigrants.
Politicians, including a flip-flopping John McCain, have called for border security. McCain himself articulated, “complete the danged fence.”
Turns out though, government data shows that the U.S.-Mexico border is quite safe.
As the Associated Press reports: “The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report.”
San Diego, where one in every four residents is an immigrant, enjoys the lowest crime rate of America’s 25 largest cities.
Everyone can agree that our current immigration system is broken but blaming the undocumented for increased crime is simply false and distracting us from real problems.
The issues facing our communities are the result of a failed immigration system that only Congress can fix. Its inability to move forward on this issue will continue to result in wrong-headed, unworkable policies like this law, which is a dangerous distraction from the real work we need to do to pass comprehensive immigration reform that works for everyone.
Read more at The Opportunity Agenda website.