Forum on illegal immigration and crime ignites heated debate

[BetsyRoss]

GREELEY - There are an estimated 12 million suspected illegal immigrants in the United States. When they enter the country, immigration laws are broken. Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck says some of the illegal immigrants go on to commit violent crimes.

"We have a case here where someone committed six DUIs under three different names in Weld County, and that person wasn't deported. They went out and committed vehicular homicide and killed somebody and that person left behind a wife and children," said Buck.

Buck organized a special forum held Tuesday titled "Illegal immigration: The untold stories."

Buck says the purpose of the forum was to inform the public about the impact of crimes committed by illegal immigrants is having on the community.

"If you were the victim of a crime it's a very big problem and so it's a problem we need to address because the crimes being committed by illegal immigrants are preventable," said Buck.

The exact number of crimes committed by illegal immigrants is hard to pinpoint. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, does not keep that statistic, neither does the Colorado court system, nor Buck himself.

"It's somewhat hard to quantify, but it's also hard to say how many drug dealers there are in Weld County yet we still have a drug task force in Weld County. This doesn't mean the problem isn't real," said Buck.

Members of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition say Buck's forum is baseless and is aiming to instill false fear.

"We empathize with victims of crime and want to address crime in our community, but to use government resources to single out one community because of the actions of a few violators, is shameful," said the coalition's director Julien Ross.

Ross says studies have shown that immigrants are often victims of crime. Ross says focusing on a fairly ambiguous issue detracts from the need to have what he calls substantial reform of the current immigration system.

"We know that immigrants are here to work and better their family, not to commit crimes," said Ross.

While ICE does not track crimes by illegal immigrants, it did report that of 197,000 illegal immigrants deported last year, 88,600 had criminal convictions

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=77546

[redbadger]

While ICE does not track crimes by illegal immigrants, it did report that of 197,000 illegal immigrants deported last year, 88,600 had criminal convictions

Holey Bat turds I hope they have not returned