Monday, August 27, 2007

NC Governor candidate Bill Graham Calls on Raleigh to Address Pending Illegal Immigration Crisis

RALEIGH, NC- August 21, 2007- Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Graham released a statement challenging the state government to address the impending illegal immigration crisis.

Amidst the aftermath of failed efforts to put a damper on illegal immigration, North Carolina continues to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. The result: a Sanford illegal immigrant killed three in a drunken-driving accident last year, a convicted felon deported last November after stealing a vehicle walked back into the country only to commit multiple rapes in Charlotte, and since last April, Mecklenburg deputies discovered that over 150 illegal immigrants were jailed and deported but crossed the border again just months later, back again and often with valid NC driver’s licenses.

Jim Kouri, the fifth vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police (NACP) and a writer for New Media Alliance, stated that two-thirds of illegal immigrants across the country have been arrested before and 61 percent have been convicted of crimes at least once. Noting the findings of a recent study, Kouri noted, “In the population study of a sample of 55,322 illegal aliens, researchers found that they were arrested at least a total of 459,614 times, averaging about eight arrests per illegal alien.â€