Immigration Watchdog Denounces Manipulation of Crime Data for Political Gain
By Jim Kouri CPP (11/29/08)
Yesterday(Nov 27th), the National Council of La Raza, MALDEF and other organizations held yet another news conference to try to silence the immigration policy debate in this country, reports the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR claims this outrageous behavior is part of a calculated strategy initiated after the defeat of the Senate's immigration amnesty bill last year.
FAIR states these groups have three major goals:
1. Silence legitimate immigration policy debate by claiming efforts to
advance interior immigration enforcement and state-local cooperation
cause "hate crimes." They provide no proof whatsoever.
2. Manipulate the data regarding anti-Hispanic crime in this country in
order to deflect from real immigration issues facing the American
people.
3. Pressure the incoming Obama Administration first to halt all interior
and worksite enforcement and then to endorse amnesty legislation and an
increase in overall immigration.
"Let me be clear," said Dan Stein, President of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), "that we join with all responsible Americans in condemning the murder of Marcelo Lucero." Stein points out that La Raza and their allies maintain silence about ethnic and race-based gang violence and brutally violent crimes carried out by international drug cartels inside the United States.
Today these irresponsible advocacy groups are cynically using Mr. Lucero's murder to promote their own policy agenda in an attempt to silence those they oppose. FAIR cites the following facts that refute their contentions:
-- According to FBI data there were 595 anti-Hispanic hate crime
incidents committed in 2007 - an increase of 19 incidents, or 3.3
percent over 2006.
-- The number of law enforcement agencies participating in hate crime
reporting in 2007 increased by 621 or 5 percent.
-- The Hispanic population in 2007 increased by 1.45 million, or 3.3
percent.
-- With the Hispanic population currently at 45.2 million, a Hispanic in
the U.S. has about a 1.3 chance in 100,000 to be a hate crime victim.
According to the National Weather Service, the odds of being struck by
lightning are 1 in 5,000.
-- By contrast, there were 969 hate crimes incidents against Jews (out of
an estimated population of about 5.5 million) and 772 incidents
directed at homosexuals.
"The organizations and individuals claiming that the small increase in the number of anti-Hispanic hate crimes have never presented one piece of evidence connecting these crimes to the debate about immigration," says Stein. "There is none. Nor is there any reason to believe that even if there were no debate about immigration policy that the same crimes would not have occurred," Stein says. FAIR challenges those making the accusations to present evidence of cause and effect.
From the very moment the Bush-Kennedy amnesty legislation was defeated in the senate in June 2007, pro-amnesty advocacy groups began making spurious accusations that the defeat of the bill was due to "a wave of hate." In truth, amnesty was defeated by the sentiment of the vast majority of Americans that granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens was wrong and did not serve the best interests of the country.
"The irresponsible conduct of these organizations is reprehensible," said Stein. "They simply do not want the immigration laws of this nation enforced. Rather than try to promote responsible solutions to today's immigration crisis, they persist in trying to stifle vital public debate in a manner that is directly fueling widespread frustration and anger," Stein concluded.
FAIR: http://www.fairus.org/
(Printer friendly version) Email: Jim Kouri CPP
