Kelley+U’s+2017+OpEd+Article

Solving the Crime Problem?

Ever since Trump got elected there has been a shift in our society. It is almost palpable. This has been especially prominent in the Latin and Hispanic community, Trumps accusations have made a toxic atmosphere of distrust and hate. His comments on labeling Mexicans as "rapists" and "bad hombres" and calling out a few incidents of immigrants committing crimes, only adds fuel to the fire. Recently in the news (at least the news that my mom watches) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has been talked about everyday. And although immigration raids were happening under the Obama administration, the fear being shown now, under the Trump administration, is much more prominent. This panic is seeping into every Latin and Hispanic community, including my own. In the last two months I have heard of actual incidents, and some rumors, happening in the predominantly Latin and Hispanic community in the Avenue. People who have lived the majority of their lives in this country, have worked their asses off for minimum wage just to keep a roof over their head are scared to even go to the grocery store in fear that they will get deported. People have actually resorted to extremes such as selling all their large possessions just in case they do get deported, sending all their money to relatives in Mexico so they have something to live off of if they do get deported, to even leaving notaries detailing that if they do get deported to leave their children in the guardianship of a document friend. This fear is absolutely real, and it's not all just mass hysteria (although I do have to admit the rumors of ICE being everywhere aren't helping at all). During ICE raids under Obama up to 92%, in 2016, of the immigrants taken into custody were criminals. And as of now up to only 74% of immigrants taken in are criminals. That is such a substantial difference. That is what's causing the fear, the fact that now, it is more likely that a non criminal undocumented immigrant could get deported. So why did Trump make the "Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States" executive order? He claims its to lower crime rates. He claims that the number of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants is disproportionate to the total amount of crime and with more deportations the crime rate will go down a substantial amount. That is completely bullshit. Immigrants are 1/5th less likely to commit crimes and only 1.6% of immigrants are incarcerated compared to the 3.3% of citizens. In the past 25 years, the undocumented immigrant flow from Latin and Hispanic countries increased, and crime rates have actually declined. Immigration raids aren't a substantial part of decreasing the crime rate, undocumented immigrant's criminal activity is so small compared to that of the native born. There are multiple articles saying the same thing, immigrants commit crimes at a much lower rate than citizens. Actual attention needing crime,in the United States, include the ones being committed by documented citizens. That includes blacks committing 38% of murders and whites committing 31% of the murders. That includes the 64% of whites doing mass shootings in the United States. That includes the significant portion of crime. So if the ICE raids aren't helping lower the crime rate what are they helping? They help cause panic and fear. That is what Trump has created with his executive order on January 25th.