March 2, 2008
Is it all immigrants’ fault?
Editorial: Crime would decrease if U.S. deported American-born citizens and replaced them with immigrants
When I write about efforts by city governments to use eminent domain and other property-rights-sapping and tax-spending "tools" to redevelop local cities (i.e., Santa Ana's Renaissance Plan), some readers cheer on these ham-fisted plans because they will "clean up" areas populated by illegal immigrants. When I write about law enforcement and jail issues, and infrastructure issues also, people call and blame the region's crime and congestion problems on – you guessed it! – illegal immigrants. Pick an issue – any issue, no matter how seemingly far afield from immigration – and I've heard from readers who have made an immigration connection.
There's always some truth to these arguments, but they rarely are made in a rational way, and they rarely are based on any careful look at the data…
LINK - OCRegister.com (Orange County Register)
