One year ago today, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County was the arch enemy of the Border Action Network. Today they are heralding him as their hero as he condemns SB1070. Heard what their fearless leader Jennifer Allen had to say one year ago today...



Arizona Sheriffs Need to Go Back to School
Tuesday, April 28 2009 11:27
by Jennifer Allen

Immigrant Integration Should Be AZ Economic Building Block

Yesterday, news articles reported that Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, Yuma Sheriff Ogden and Maricopa Sheriff Arpaio are calling for Arizona schools to ask students whether they are in the U.S. legally. The Sheriffs’ plan confronts a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that schools can not exclude students based on their immigration status and affirmed that K-12 public education is guaranteed for all children.

The Sheriffs plan not only confronts the U.S. Supreme Court, but also attacks the future of Arizona. In a time of economic crisis, Arizona needs to emerge from the dark ages of punitive policies that marginalize immigrant families that reside in the state. We need our leaders to be brave enough to chart a new course for the state that is forward-thinking and innovative.

The Sheriffs have revealed that they have not studied the research or even looked around to see what other states are doing. As a result, Arizona is going to be left behind. Sheriff Dupnik cites two justifications for turning schools into immigration enforcers: crime and costs. On both accounts, national and state research point to immigrants boosting the Arizona economy and contributing to lower crime rates.

Research studies examining the link between immigration and crime have repeatedly found that Hispanic immigrants are less criminal than native born citizens. Using actual data on rates of crime in the United States, those who have drawn this evidence-based conclusion include Dr. John Hagen, former President of the American Society of Criminology, Dr. Michael Gottfredson, one of the most widely-esteemed criminologists in the world, and Dr. Ramiro Martinez, the nation’s leading criminologist of immigration.

According to Dr. Raymond Michalowski of Northern Arizona University, "Despite years of solid research evidence that immigrants, particularly Latino immigrants, are not a crime threat, some community leaders continue to promote the myth of Latino immigrant criminality, relying on falsehoods, anecdotes and half-truths to create public fear and support for agendas that do not benefit their communities."

The Sheriffs claim that the state will save money by turning immigrant school children over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. However, researcher Judith Gans from the non-partisan Udall Center for Public Policy found that immigration results in a net economic gain for the Arizona economy. In Gans’ 2008 report “Immigrants in Arizona: Fiscal and Economic Impactsâ€