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Immigrant Gangs: Pols still don’t get it
By Jon Feere, January 5, 2009

In their quest for open borders, many politicians still fail to understand the link between immigration and the growth of gangs.

The latest example is chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) – who happens to have one of the worst records on immigration enforcement. In the next Congress, Baca plans to introduce an initiative to fight gangs. It sounds like a great idea, but if his past efforts are a guide, it’s likely that this initiative will focus only on prevention programs akin to the anti-drug program known as D.A.R.E.

The problem with this effort is that it in no way addresses the continuous flow of illegal alien gangsters over our borders. Congress could dramatically reduce the growth of gangs simply through better enforcement of immigration law, as illustrated in a recent Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder I co-authored with the Center’s Senior Policy Analyst Jessica Vaughan titled, “Taking Back the Streets.â€