Illegal Alien Crime Wave
By The New American The New American, February 9, 2004
Although all illegal aliens are, by definition, criminals — they have violated our immigration laws — most do not come here with the intention of engaging in a life of street crime. Many violent foreign criminals, however, come to America precisely because it is considered a rich, soft target. "Some of the most violent criminals at large today are illegal aliens," writes Heather MacDonald, a reporter for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. "Yet in cities where the crime these aliens commit is highest, the police cannot use the most obvious tool to apprehend them: their immigration status." MacDonald’s in-depth exposé in the January 14 City Journal, entitled "The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave," notes: "In Los Angeles, for example, dozens of members of a ruthless Salvadoran prison gang have sneaked back into town after having been deported for such crimes as murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and drug trafficking. Police officers know who they are and know that their mere presence in the country is a felony. Yet should a cop arrest an illegal gangbanger for felonious reentry, it is he who will be treated as a criminal, for violating the LAPD’s rule against enforcing immigration law." How can this be? MacDonald explains: "The LAPD’s ban on immigration enforcement mirrors bans in immigrant-saturated cities around the country, from New York and Chicago to San Diego, Austin, and Houston. These ‘sanctuary policies’ generally prohibit city employees, including the cops, from reporting immigration violations to federal authorities." However, federal authorities still do arrest and deport thousands of these felons every year, something they will not be able to do, except with great difficulty, once these criminal aliens receive legal status under President Bush’s proposed plan. Once they receive citizenship, they definitely cannot be deported. MacDonald turned up some additional eye-openers for the misty-eyed open border advocates. She reports:
In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.
A confidential California Department of Justice study reported in 1995 that 60 percent of the 20,000-strong 18th Street Gang in southern California are illegal aliens.
The leadership of the Columbia Lil’ Cycos gang, which uses murder and racketeering to control the drug market around L.A.’s MacArthur Park, was about 60 percent illegal in 2002, according to authorities.
