Thread: AZ-Lack of data for tracking illegal immigrant crimes

Lack of data for tracking illegal immigrant crimes
September 27th, 2008 @ 2:17pm
by Associated Press

You've heard it from pundits and read it online: Illegal immigrants are clogging our legal system. They may come with the dreams of work and a better life, but they bring increased crime and strife.

But it's anyone's guess how many illegal immigrants enter the justice system, and how much it costs taxpayers. Neither the state nor the federal courts formally keep track.

``The data (are) terrible, and lead to entirely different conclusions,'' said Steven Camarota, of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports tighter immigration controls. ``No one has made it a priority. No one has ever wanted to know.''

Federal policies targeting illegal immigration also skew the picture. Although the number of people arrested in the Tucson Sector for illegal immigration has actually declined in recent years, the push is on to prosecute more illegal-entry cases, most recently through ``Operation Streamline,'' which aims to prosecute 100 illegal immigrants a day.

The emphasis on illegal immigration has overwhelmed Tucson's federal prosecutors to the point that they have declined to take on a number of serious drug-offense cases in recent years. To keep up, the U.S. Attorney's Office recently hired 22 more prosecutors and has converted a courtroom into a makeshift holding area for illegal immigrants waiting to see judges.

Illegal immigration made up half the felony sentencings in federal court here last year, but no one can say - beyond estimates - how many other federal crimes are tied to illegal immigrants.

It's a similar scene at Pima County Superior Court. Officials there agree that cases involving illegal immigrants put an extra burden on judges and attorneys - but no one knows how big a burden.

Estimates of the share of Pima County criminal cases involving illegal immigrants range from 3.5 percent to 11 percent.

Financial estimates are only slightly more specific. At a minimum, taxpayers spend about $80 million per year on cases involving illegal immigration that are processed through Pima County and the federal court in Tucson. But that doesn't include the cost of lawyers to represent and prosecute illegal border crossers charged with more serious federal crimes.

And it doesn't sort out those non-citizens in the court system who are here legally.

Still, Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall is confident that the effect is small.

``The illegals we see are only an itty-bitty, tiny fraction of the illegals who are in Pima County and Arizona,'' LaWall said.

``Their presence here has a huge impact, but they are not driving the crime rate,'' she said. ``Ninety-seven percent of the folks we prosecute are homegrown criminals.''

It's clear that illegal immigrants do affect our court system, but getting an accurate count of cases is nearly impossible.

At the federal level, cases that involve only illegal entry are easy to identify, but tracking more serious crimes by illegal entrants just isn't done.

``The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecutes the cases based on whether a federal offense was committed,'' said Lynnette Kimmins, chief assistant U.S. attorney who heads the Tucson office. ``We don't keep track of a person's citizenship unless a lack of citizenship is an element to the crime.''

To do that, Kimmins said, would require a change in the computing system used in all U.S. attorneys' offices, not just those in Arizona.

Just over half of Arizona's 4,700 federal felony sentencings in 2007 were for immigration violations, said a U.S. Sentencing Commission report.

Felony cases include those involving people with multiple illegal-entry convictions and people here illegally who commit another serious crime. Most people arrested only for being here illegally are deported without being charged, or they're charged with misdemeanors.

``We are just one of nine sectors along the Southwest border, but our sector last year accounted for 380,000 arrests for people being here illegally and nearly a million pounds of marijuana being brought across the international border,'' said Chief U.S. District Judge John M. Roll of Tucson.

Less clear is the role that illegal immigrants play in other types of criminal cases, such as those involving drugs, guns or fraud.

Nationally, non-citizens accounted for about 30 percent of all drug felony sentencings, 8 percent of firearms sentencings and 20 percent of fraud sentencings. That includes people here legally and illegally.

At the county level, there are conflicting statistics on illegal immigrants in the system.

LaWall, the county attorney, said 3.5 percent of people with open cases in her office have an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold on them, meaning the federal agency is investigating their legal status while they are held in the county jail.

Presiding Superior Court Judge Jan Kearney, however, said 11 percent of suspects with pending criminal cases in Pima County Superior Court have acknowledged that they are in the country illegally.

It's unclear how that compares with Pima County's population of illegal immigrants, because no one is really tracking it. Most estimates are either statewide or for Phoenix.

Varying estimates from 2006, the most recent available, placed the state's population of illegal immigrants at about 450,000 to 500,000, said Jeffrey Passel of the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center. The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group, estimated most of those illegal immigrants, about 350,000, lived in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Whatever the number, LaWall and Kearney said the immigration debate is more a product of a change in people than any change in the issue. ``The level of immigration, both legal and illegal, has been enormous for the last 20 years, but nothing has really changed,'' Kearney said. ``There is just more public attention and concern now. It's how the laws have changed that have had an impact. It's not the illegals who have had an impact.''


http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=965591

It's unclear how that compares with Pima County's population of illegal immigrants, because no one is really tracking it. Most estimates are either statewide or for Phoenix.

Of course they're not keeping track. Isabel Garcia's whole job is to defend illegal aliens.

How can you "track" any group of people who forbids any method of tracking?

Originally Posted by crazybird

How can you "track" any group of people who forbids any method of tracking?

Welfare recipients (especially if the name on the account is for underage child/ren -parents will be illegal), bank accounts without SS numbers, Western Union money transfers (EVERY transaction is recorded), ANY person who does not use a SS number to "pay taxes" and last, but not least pro-illegal alien organizations. If they receive federal funds, they should disclose WHO the money is going to.

Welfare recipients (especially if the name on the account is for underage child/ren -parents will be illegal), bank accounts without SS numbers, Western Union money transfers (EVERY transaction is recorded), ANY person who does not use a SS number to "pay taxes" and last, but not least pro-illegal alien organizations. If they receive federal funds, they should disclose WHO the money is going to.
_________________
Love your anaology......but the basic question is I KNOW who they AREN"T........but WHO ARE THEY? I know what doesn't work but I don't know what does. I know what it isn't......BUT what IS IT?


When I get a clue. I can't go for it because it might be targeting or racist. I'm left with looking for blue jeans, white t-shirt and a black hooded sweatshirt.....no age, no race, no sex, no relegious group, no language spoken or anything else. Find me?.....

Kearney said. ``There is just more public attention and concern now. It's how the laws have changed that have had an impact. It's not the illegals who have had an impact.''
Since when is it that illegals have not had an impact? Taking jobs from Americans, popping out anchor babies every year, demanding bilingualism is every aspect of American life, daring to march with Mexican and other flags, committing crimes (least of which is sneaking in here in the first place), living off the public dole, using our resources identity fraud, getting paid under the table and not paying taxes, an exponential increase in crime in some communities and voting districts being redrawn because of representation without taxation, just to mention a few.
And it is how the laws are enforced that also have an impact.

The government (s) - federal, state and local have made it a point to not keep records, to not know. They didn't want to have to lie, so they can say with a straight face - no honor - but a straight face, they don't know.

The thing is also, crime by illegals is not always reported, not always prosecuted. I'm thinking if they are being prosecuted for an immigration violation and are guilty of a crime, they drop the crime and just prosecute the immigration violation. That would certainly skew the figures regarding other crimes.

Yes, check out every document used to get welfare - really check it - none of this 'don't ask- don't tell' stuff.

Check out every document used to wire money out of the country.

Check out every document when registering children for school.

Check out every document when they try to access medical care.

Make dadgum sure each and every employer makes a good faith effort to discover illegals and that means checking out existing employees.

Demand states make sure they check out each and every DL - really check it out.

There are any number of ways to find these people - and when we find them, lock them up and head them home. TAke a fingerprint and tell them if they are caught here again, it's prison time - real prison time and the time won't be a plesant one.

Our government convinced us that they needed some very strong laws called the Patriot Act in order to 'keep us safe' - yet they are protecting illegal aliens and admit they don't know who, how many, or where?

"Still, Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall is confident that the effect is small.

``The illegals we see are only an itty-bitty, tiny fraction of the illegals who are in Pima County and Arizona,'' LaWall said.

``Their presence here has a huge impact, but they are not driving the crime rate,'' she said. ``Ninety-seven percent of the folks we prosecute are homegrown criminals.'' "

This woman is so full of it. This is one of the reasons I'm supporting her opponent. She is up for re-election and has has scandal in her office in the past, but the local media is ignoring the election and she'll probably win again because people have heard her name before.

And yes, Isabel Garcia represents all these "minute, tiny fraction of illegals" that LaWall speaks of and Isabel screams that they should even be prosecuted because their crimes shouldn't be considered crimes in her oppinion!

Ninety-seven percent of the folks we prosecute are homegrown criminals.'' "

That doesn't mean illegals are not driving the crime rate, it just means they aren't being prosecuted.