Thread: Significant changes as FBI criminal referrals drop and immig

Significant changes as FBI criminal referrals drop and immigration cases increase

By Pete Yost
The Associated Press, March 6, 2008

Washington, DC (AP) -- The FBI is a shadow of its former crime-busting self, submitting nearly 40 percent fewer criminal investigations to the Justice Department for possible prosecution than it did two decades ago.

The decline is mostly the result of the bureau's heavy focus on terrorism investigations in recent years.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on U.S. soil changed the FBI's focus, but other agencies that are heavily engaged in white-collar criminal investigations are showing similar changes, says the study by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a private group at Syracuse University.

A top FBI official said the agency's new emphasis on stopping terrorists was necessary and effective.

'To say the FBI is a shadow of its former self is to ask the question: What do you get for shifting FBI agents to the national security mission?' said John Miller, an assistant FBI director. 'If the answer is going 6 1/2 years without a successful attack by terrorists on U.S. soil, then I think it's a win.'

The flip side to the declines is the soaring number of immigration investigations, which now account for more than a quarter of all criminal referrals to the Justice Department, according to TRAC.

Last year, 41,600 immigration cases went to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, more than double the figure from 2001. The latest figure is four times the number of two decades ago.
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gHbI ... wD8V883480

EDITOR'S NOTE: The TRAC study is available online at: http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/crim/186/

Originally Posted by safari

The flip side to the declines is the soaring number of immigration investigations, which now account for more than a quarter of all criminal referrals to the Justice Department, according to TRAC.

Last year, 41,600 immigration cases went to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, more than double the figure from 2001. The latest figure is four times the number of two decades ago.

Ah.....yes. Who were those so-called "experts" who released a report recently stating that immigrants committed LESS crimes???