Tag: undocumented immigrants

A new study just debunked Trump’s favorite talking point about undocumented immigrants

The report knocks down one of Trump’s most popular xenophobic talking points.

A growth in the undocumented immigrant population is not associated with an increase in local crime, according to a new study from The Marshall Project. The findings directly contradict one of the president’s favorite talking points about immigrants and crime.

This study, which focuses squarely on undocumented immigrants, uses local crime rates published by the FBI and concluded that between 2007 and 2016, almost every type of crime had a flat line trend, suggesting that any increase in undocumented immigrants has had no effect on crime. Areas with higher rates of illegal immigration actually appeared to have a slight drop in the crime rate.

Studies on undocumented immigrants are relatively rare, in part because it’s hard to collect data on them. While it is difficult to estimate the exact number of undocumented immigrants in the United States, the most recent available data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is from 2016 and puts the population roughly at 10.7 million, down a million and a half from 2007.

View the complete May 13 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress website here.

‘Dreamers’ could give US economy – and even American workers – a boost

The following article by Amy Hsin, Associate Professor of Sociology at City University of New York, was posted on the Conversation website January 19, 2018:

Many immigrant advocates consider the DREAM Act the best hope for a permanent fix. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

Earlier this month, hopes were high that a bipartisan deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “Dreamers,” the millions of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Those hopes all but vanished on Jan. 11 as President Donald Trump aligned himself with hard-line anti-immigration advocates within the GOP and struck down bipartisan attempts to reach a resolution.

As we enter the final hours before a potential government shutdown, many Democrats are insisting that any short-term funding agreement must include a resolution for Dreamers. Continue reading “‘Dreamers’ could give US economy – and even American workers – a boost”