Arizona, illegal immigrants, and crime rates

Right wingers claim illegals amount to barbarians at the gates, terrorizing Americans with violent crime. Left wingers claim they're just honest "undocumented workers" who wouldn't harm a flea.

Where's the truth?

I just fact-checked relevant competing claims about Arizona crime rates with www.factcheck.org and www.politifact.com, two of the best sources for nonpartisan, thoroughly researched fact-checking.

It looks at though there hasn't been an big overall increase in violent crime in Arizona during the period of greatly increased illegal immigration.

BUT--this is based on reported violent crime; it doesn't separate out crime committed by illegals; and it doesn't include non-street crime, such as Social Security identity theft that may not show up until you apply for Social Security--and then could require years to start getting payments because the SSA can't tell who's who.

AND these state conceal a crucial fact beyond the fact that they don't tell you what part of crime illegals do.

This is the fact that every single crime committed by illegals wouldn't have been committed if illegals weren't in the country.

And the stats conceal crime locations. Traditionally you find high crime areas in poverty pockets ridden with high concentrations of unemployed people--especially young men--lots of drug dealing, prostitution, illegal gambling etc. Middle class people can and do avoid such areas.

But crime associated with illegals also occurs all along the border, often far from the poverty pockets. It occurs in drop houses in middle class neighborhoods. Their migration routes can take them through normal residential neighborhoods.

And because they're illegals, they tend to under-report crime even when they're the victims, or witnesses to the crimes.

Also, because they're illegals, they're more likely to be off the grid--hence harder to catch. Some borracho runs his car into yours and flees. The license plate is stolen. The car was bought for cash and isn't linked to the guy. That crime is less likely to be solved.

Moreover, crime stats don't account for ranchers who can't safely leave their homes at night and whose property get trashed and burglarized. Littering isn't a violent crime, nor is being menacing to your children.

From all this I conclude that whatever the crime rate caused by illegals, 100% of it is unacceptable and could be avoided if we had proper control of who's in this country. I also conclude that the impact of crime done by people off the grid has a disproportionate negative effect on society. And I further conclude that nonviolent crime by illegals may not show up for decades, and often has a more adverse affect on middle class society than crime localized in urban slums.

Finally, their presence here, competing with unskilled American laborers of all races and ethnicities, providing scab labor that helps amoral employers bust unions and drive down wages for everyone, stuffing schools with kids who are way behind American kids even without taking language into account, using ERs for primary care, having citizen children who immediately go on welfare, all burden society beyond the tip of the iceberg represented by violent crime.