by David L. Wilson, Extra!
September/October 2008
Immigrants aren't a crime problem. "The foreign-born commit
considerably fewer crimes than the native-born," as President Herbert
Hoover's National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement
concluded in 1931 (National Lawyers Guild Quarterly, 10/39;
Immigration Policy Center, Spring/07). While noncitizens now make up
more than 8 percent of the U.S. population, the available evidence
indicates that they account for no more than 6 or 7 percent of the
people incarcerated for crimes in the United States, less than 170,000
of the 2.3 million inmates currently in our federal, state and local
penal systems--not including some 30,000 immigrants in administrative
detention on any given day awaiting deportation. (Politics of
Immigration, 4/2/08, 5/7/08).
Why, then, do so many people believe in the myth of immigrant criminality?
One reason is the mainstream media's habit of giving inflated
estimates for the number of immigrants in prison. [...]
Read the full article:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3683
Note: One of the people discussed in the article is Indiana University
economist Eric Rasmusen, who was quoted in Time magazine last year as
saying that undocumented immigrants commit 21 percent of crimes in the
United States. Prof. Rasmusen is back this year with another
astonishing claim. He signed on to the Cato Institute's January 28
full-page ad against using job creation and infrastructure maintenance
to revive the economy. "Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden
of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost
growth," the ad assures us, as if that wasn't what we've been doing
for the past 30 years.
For more on Prof. Rasmusen and the immigrant prison population:
http://thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/2008/04/undocumented-commit-21-percent-of.html
I am an immigrant. I migrated to the U.S. from the Philippines. Although it wasn't always the case, today I am learning to peel the shame I used to feel about being an immigrant. Some cringe at the word "immigrant"; some take and use it as an insult. Many believe that it's an F-word; a word that's a curse, a taboo, something dirty, a word people aren't suppose to use, it's thrown around like a weapon of hate.
The history of the word, from my understanding, is that it was used to place an identifier on a group that was seen as an 'other.' It has been posed to me that perhaps the word "immigrant" should not be used in the first place. But I disagree; eradicating the word isn't a protest of disregard of the power of the ruling class. but rather it's an admittance of their power.
Instead of using "immigrant" as an F-word, I'm suggesting that people remember that language is ours; We determine its meaning and its development, not the other way around. I am an immigrant; I migrated from one place to another. There is nothing wrong with that.
(My particular interest is in the undocumented immigrant experience, particularly undocumented immigrant youth. This blog seeks to journey into learning about the lives of immigrants, documented and undocumented alike, and the politics surrounding the subject.)
The history of the word, from my understanding, is that it was used to place an identifier on a group that was seen as an 'other.' It has been posed to me that perhaps the word "immigrant" should not be used in the first place. But I disagree; eradicating the word isn't a protest of disregard of the power of the ruling class. but rather it's an admittance of their power.
Instead of using "immigrant" as an F-word, I'm suggesting that people remember that language is ours; We determine its meaning and its development, not the other way around. I am an immigrant; I migrated from one place to another. There is nothing wrong with that.
(My particular interest is in the undocumented immigrant experience, particularly undocumented immigrant youth. This blog seeks to journey into learning about the lives of immigrants, documented and undocumented alike, and the politics surrounding the subject.)
"google that!"
Immigrant Rights are Human Rights; If a group of people can be oppressed, who decides who's next?
Inform yourself and others, go to google.com and youtube.com and check out things like:
I.C.E. Detention Center / Hutto Dention Center / DREAM Act
Inform yourself and others, go to google.com and youtube.com and check out things like:
I.C.E. Detention Center / Hutto Dention Center / DREAM Act
Thursday, February 5, 2009
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