A little discussed report by the United States Sentencing Commission has been released with an astonishing figure: Of the more than 2,200 people who received federal sentences for drug possession in fiscal year 2014, almost three-quarters of them were illegal immigrants. In addition, illegal immigrants reportedly made up more than one-third of all federal sentences for all crimes.
Unfortunately, the comments of Donald Trump have sucked the oxygen out of the public debate on the significance of such crime trends. According to new data from the United States Sentencing Commission. While crimes by illegal immigrants are slightly down (38.6 percent of all federal sentencings in 2013 but 36.7 percent in 2014), they still represent a huge percentage of such offenses in the federal system given that they represent an estimated 3.5 percent of the U.S population. There is available data from the states, though individual states likely have figures.
This includes 20 percent of the kidnapping/hostage taking sentences in 2014 and 12 percent of the murder sentences. Another 19.4 percent of national-defense related sentences are attributed to illegal immigrants.
If you combine both illegal and legal aliens, the population represents almost half of all sentences — 42 percent of all federal sentencing in 2014.
These figures are according to the Washington Examiner and have been reported on other sites. I went and looked at the Sentencing Commission report and confirmed the figure on non-citizens but I could not locate the specific numbers on illegal immigrants. If anyone has a link, it would be great to add it. Here are the general sourcebook tables from the United States Sentencing Commission.
randyjet:
“Donna, The real significant number is what percentage of illegals commit major felonies.” What about minor felonies and misdemeanors? Do they not matter?
“It is long past time for the FEDS to get tough with sancuarty cities by cutting off all funds as long as they spit on our laws.” You do realize that the Feds sued the state of AZ when they tried to enforce federal immigration laws and turn over all illegal aliens to ICE, right? Plus I’ve linked several times to testimony before the Senate stating that Border Patrol officers were punished if they apprehended groups larger than 20, because the feds were trying to artificially decrease the figures. I think the Feds have been quite clear where they stand on this.
But I completely agree with you that sanctuary policies need to be stopped, immediately. We have a paradox. On the one hand we have strict immigration laws, ICE, Border Patrol, etc. But on the other hand, we have policies that prevent sheriffs from reporting to ICE when they discover someone is here illegally, sanctuary cities, fights against proving citizenship on the voter roles, free drivers licenses to illegal aliens, CA voted to extend Obamacare to illegal aliens . . .
We’re saying “Go away” with a really soft voice and “Come here!” much louder.
It’s like there is this segment of Americans who feel it is somehow rude to expect our closest neighbors to follow our immigration laws to come here, just like poor people from all over the world do every single day. They think it is racist to purge the rolls of illegal aliens. That if we threw our borders wide open to unlimited immigration, there would be no consequences. Land, housing, infrastructure, water and other resources, and social benefits funding would just sprout up overnight. CA is mandating up to 40% in water conservation, regardless of if you’ve already maxed out your savings, but what’s the point if we keep importing vast numbers of illegal aliens ever year. We’ll never save a drop.
randyjet:
“Karen I have no idea of your situation in voting, but as an election official in Texas before the photo ID law, you had to present your voter registration certificate or your Texas drivers license or ID from the DPS to vote in person. Now of course, you must have a photo ID and your registration cert is no longer valid for voting. The absentee ballots of course are a different matter and those are still a problem though from what I have observed, in most places there is no real issue. As i have stated before, I wish we had the same kind of national voting ID as Mexico has, but then we have our Constitution which leaves much of that in state hands.”
http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/new-voters/where-and-how-vote
Here is state law on what to bring to vote in CA:
In most cases, California voters are not required to show identification at their polling place. However, it is a good idea to bring identification with you when you vote for the first time. A poll worker may ask to see your identification if you mailed your voter registration application and did not include your driver license number, California identification number, or the last four digits of your Social Security number.
A copy of a recent utility bill, the sample ballot booklet you received from your county elections office, or another document sent to you by a government agency are examples of acceptable forms of identification. Other examples include your passport, driver license, official California identification card, or student identification card.
So if you mailed in your voter registration application, and had your driver license # on it or last 4 of your SSN (which could easily have been stolen), you will never be asked to verify your identity at the polling place in any way.
I agree that a national voter ID, such as Mexico’s system but without all the fraud, would be great. Although, that means there is another ID to carry around, and you would need alternate forms in the cases where people forget to bring it. At least TX requires a photo ID to vote. Of course, in CA, illegal aliens get drivers licenses.
Karen, You should notice that all the alternate ID forms and registration requirements for voting include a Social Security number which is how the registrar validates the registration. No good SS number, no registration. My friend who was refused her right to vote had it denied because the DPS data base did not have her registered with an ID form. Using the DPS as the vetting agency at the time was ILLEGAL by the way. Now it is the law. It is up to the registrar to validate the registration, and any fake voters are their responsibility and it is up to the state AG to prosecute such fraud. If voter fraud were such a widespread problem here in Texas, there would have been LOTS of cases since the AG was on a big witch hunt for such things for the last four years. They found ZERO, and not for lack of trying either.
Karen – until the feds got involved again Arizona required picture ID. Last I heard they had decided that Arizona could require it for state elections but not for federal elections.
There is an FBI report that agrees with what Trump has said.
http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/fbi-data-backs-up-trump-claims-on-illegals-and-crime/
Donna, The real significant number is what percentage of illegals commit major felonies. That number is a very small one, but when you have over 11 million illegals here, just 10% adds up to BIG numbers of over one million crooks. The problem is that such cities as SF are actively assisting illegals to stay and commit more crimes. The latest outrage came from SF taking an illegal who was going to be deported away from the Feds and then letting him go to avoid being kicked out. That the Sheriff thinks he did not wrong in doing this shows an Alice in Wonderland mentality. That Sheriff needs to be put in jail, or voted out
There was a SF Sheriff’s deputy a couple of years ago who was ARRESTED in Houston for trying to take a minor illegal out of the country as part of his job. SF County did not want the poor minor to have a record for coming into the US illegally, so they bought him a plane ticket home to El Salvador, and had to have the deputy go along because he was a minor. It is long past time for the FEDS to get tough with sancuarty cities by cutting off all funds as long as they spit on our laws. Putting some cops in prison for going along with this would not hurt either. The Feds simply took the kid away from the deputy and let him go back to SF. They should have kept him and charged him with felony aiding and abetting the crime. THAT would bring this foolishness to a halt.
randyjet:
“Karen, I can care less if some fool lets Mickey Mouse register and stay on the rolls. I DO care if Mickey VOTES! The fraud that you claim is rampant is a red herring, and in Texas the rate is close to zero.”
If “Mickey Mouse” is registered to vote, and remains on the voter roles, he can vote. Especially since we’ve done away with voter ID. So, yes, fraudulent people remaining on voter registration is bad.
I don’t have any idea how often this happens in TX, but it is very common in California. As I’ve said, we’ve had case after case where a journalist can walk out and verify a few hundred people voted illegally in a single video. But voter fraud is rarely prosecuted.
Having an occasional name erroneously removed is not a reason to let voter fraud persist. All you have to do is create a robust system where these mistakes can be rectified before voting.
“I personally work the polls and I have seen no fraud or voting by folks who should not vote.” How would you have any idea? Do you know if any illegal aliens, paroled felons, or people who’ve already voted multiple times came to your polling area? You don’t. That’s what measures to combat voter fraud are for. Did you guys check IDs at your polling place? Here in CA, I just give my name and walk in. No ID. Nothing.
I completely agree with you on voter fraud via absentee voting and early voting. We need early voting for our military who serve overseas, to ensure we get their vote counted. But that’s about it. The laws have become so lax that it’s absurd.
There has been a great fuss when measures to combat voter fraud come up where, for instance, you have to update your name change prior to voting rather than at the polling place. However, Obamacare’s Open Enrollment period isn’t set in stone, it’s set in Carbonite. Don’t make the deadline, or lose your insurance after the deadline, tough. You are uninsured until next year. So how can a deadline be so unfair when it comes to voting, but perfectly fine with Obamacare, when it’s life or death because it involves health insurance?
Karen I have no idea of your situation in voting, but as an election official in Texas before the photo ID law, you had to present your voter registration certificate or your Texas drivers license or ID from the DPS to vote in person. Now of course, you must have a photo ID and your registration cert is no longer valid for voting. The absentee ballots of course are a different matter and those are still a problem though from what I have observed, in most places there is no real issue. As i have stated before, I wish we had the same kind of national voting ID as Mexico has, but then we have our Constitution which leaves much of that in state hands.
I dig hot sexy, bronzed latina’s with big brown doe eyes and a tight, firm can….that’s the kinda mexican I like…with a cerveza in each hand, one for me, one for her…get my drift?
Here is a topical video. One of my heroines, Ann Coulter!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr6E6Zi1Lq8
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
bad,bad finger baby!
These maggots that spill over the border are ambulatory slime!…They deal drugs, hook, pimp, steal and gobble up resources faster than a pac-man machine!…Most mexicans enjoy only three things in abundance…screwing, eating and making more mexican’s…a close 4th is sleeping…they do they a lot, especially after a daily serveza bender…LMAO!
Also, these are only Federal crimes. Could this be related to the Drug War that generally target countries south of our border? These stats make sense when one considers that these are only Federal crime stats. On the other hand they are most likely insignificant when considering crime stats covering the non Federal judicial system.
Why is the title of the article
” Illegal Immigrants Account for Roughly 75 Percent of Drug Possession Cases and 30 Percent Of All Federal Sentencings”
yet conclude in the final paragraph
“I went and looked at the Sentencing Commission report and confirmed the figure on non-citizens but I could not locate the specific numbers on illegal immigrants.”?
This is quite a major inconsistency, no?
as-ton-ish
verb (used with object)
1. to fill with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder; amaze:
Her easy humor and keen intellect astonished me.
Professor Turley, could you “flesh that out” a little bit? A recommendation perhaps?
I agree that it was not Donald Trump who sucked the oxygen out of the immigration issues. After the media frenzy over his initial blunt remarks and after the losses of some of his business, the immigration debates are better defined and more people are aware of specific problems than before he spoke. Kate Steinle’s murderer and sanctuary cities would not have received so much attention without the Trump controversy, in my opinion.
Now communities that thought they were alone in having problems with criminal or otherwise dysfunctional illegal aliens know the problems are widespread and are coming to realize that many people are quite willing to have us live with these problems.
Sorry if that sounds like I’m wearing an aluminum foil hat. But after enough decades of the same government behavior causing the same problems, I have to conclude it is intentional. And over 10 years ago I was lectured by the owner of a local business that I should get used to masses of unskilled immigrants, because he needs the cheap labor and supports his needs with political donations. (This was at a party in an affluent Texas neighborhood.)
We all know the US Chamber of Commerce is not concerned with the welfare of American citizens who want to work. See their positions on immigration ‘reform’ and their decades of support for higher and higher H1-B quotas. (H1-B workers are usually willing to work for much, much less than Americans.)
Republicans and Democrats differ on style about legal and illegal immigration, but 8 years of the George W Bush administration taught me there is little difference in substance.
We must keep trying to make the United States a saner and better nation, but it certainly is an uphill battle.
randyjet:
“So don’t tell me that they do not check. In FACT, they do their best to not allow people other than whites to register.” I’m sorry about your friend’s experience in TX. The Court Case in FL had only 2 plaintiffs, who had their names erroneously removed. They had both been allowed to vote in the election after they’d complained it was in error.
Obviously, there needs to be a system to dispute erroneous purges. How long ago did this happen in TX? She should file a complaint.
As long as there is a system in place to correct erroneous purges, the voter rolls need to be audited periodically.
This does NOT happen here in CA, a border state. There have been so many instances where a journalist takes a camera and interviews one illegal alien after another who admits to having voted. There have been scandals where people register as “Mickey Mouse”. Both myself and my husband were fraudulently registered as members of the Democratic Party when we signed petitions.
But you have to admit that Democrats typically fight any attempt to clean up voter roles from fraud as racist. Here is an older article about the wrangling in FL. I, too, disagree with allowing you to change your name right at the polls. That doesn’t give any time to determine if it’s valid.
http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2011/apr/26/eric-eisnaugle/mickey-mouse-was-registered-vote-florida-republica/
Karen, I can care less if some fool lets Mickey Mouse register and stay on the rolls. I DO care if Mickey VOTES! The fraud that you claim is rampant is a red herring, and in Texas the rate is close to zero. The past AG of Texas spent tons of money convicting a black woman who committed the crime of mailing an absentee ballot for a nursing home voter. I personally work the polls and I have seen no fraud or voting by folks who should not vote.
The one area that does have a massive amount of fraud is not in person voting, but absentee and multiple voting in different states by the well off. Rep Olson in CD 22 in Texas did that in 2000 when he voted twice in VA and CT Nick Lampson, his opponent protested this to the Sec.of State in VA and they did nothing at all. I agree that our voting procedures are in the dark ages and I would prefer that we do the Mexican thing and have national voter ID cards to stop this kind of thing. The folks in Del Rio Texas which is 90% Hispanic found out that they had elected a KKKer as Sheriff on the GOP ticket. Turns out, all of the pilot trainees at Laughlin AFB used that as their “home” address and voted absentee in electing the Kluxer.
randyjet – it is very important to me that Mickey Mouse be registered to vote in every state. He is my candidate for President.
We need a Berlin Wall between the U.S. and Mexico. Greece needs one between Greece and all points north. Vote for Trump. No one else speaks correctly on the issue. They all want political correctness.
there
Paul: Thanks, I stand corrected. But even though much of the land is privately owned, I have no doubt that U.S. citizens would gladly contribute to a fund to purchase it. It would actually benefit adjacent land owners, as I heard many stories of thefts and other crimes being committed by trespassing illegals. One rancher on t.v. stated that he leaves barrels of water out on his property for humanitarian reasons, but when they start stealing his animals he gets out his shotgun and fires off some warning rounds. But he can’t, of course, watch his property 24 hours a day. Frankly, I don’t know why anyone would live near the border. It’s a violent, lawless, no-man’s land.
TinEar – people who live near the border have lived their for years. Probably for several generations. It has only gotten really bad now.
Karen, A hispanic friend of my wife who lived in Texas her whole life, could not register to vote because of her ethnic background. She registered THREE times and had her old registration in Dallas removed. Yet Montgomery County refused to put her name on the rolls as a voter Each time she brought her birth certificate, old voter registration card from Dallas, and each time they sent her a notice saying she was not elegible to vote. She did not have a drivers license or DPS ID card, so it turns out they were using DPS to validate voters citizenship when they cannot do it. So despite all the proof she had, at election time we found out she was not on the rolls AGAIN. I was with her when we went to the registrar and demanded that she get to vote. I told her to tell the registrar that the next stop for us was the US attorney’s office in Houston They let her vote a restricted ballot. This part of Texas is KKK country, so I was not too surprised, but the threat of the Feds coming in did the trick. So don’t tell me that they do not check. In FACT, they do their best to not allow people other than whites to register.
Speaking of other countries, Iranians staged “Death to America” rallies during our completely wasted efforts trying for the 3rd time to negotiate with Iran on nuclear weapons.
“If you drive the talks into a dead end then it will be you who will be committing a strategic mistake,” Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani said at Friday prayers following the rally in Tehran, addressing the U.S. “And its outcome will not benefit you since Iran’s nuclear staff are ready to accelerate nuclear technology at a higher speed than before.”
So, basically, they are threatening to nuke us unless we give them what they want in our negotiations to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons.
Which is why these negotiations are a complete waste of time. They just admitted that, despite their earlier protestations that they just want clean nuclear energy, they were really working on nuclear weapons the entire time. But they have us over a barrel because what can we do, really? Will an embargo stop them from developing nukes? We’ve pretty much had enough of warfare.
No easy answers, but Iran has been quite clear about what they will do once they have nuclear weapons – nuke Israel and nuke the US.
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2014/03/fla-tv-station-exposes-voter-fraud-doj-sues-state-to-stop-purging-rolls/
A journalist found 100 people illegally voting, all on his own.
“Incredibly, election supervisors confirmed on camera that there’s no way for them to verify the citizenship of people who register to vote. The only way to detect fraud is if the county offices that oversee elections receive a tip, they say, and only then can they follow up. As inconceivable as this may seem, it appears to be true. Election supervisors in counties across the United States have their hands tied when it comes to this sort of voter registration fraud. They neither have the resources nor the authority to take action without knowledge of specific wrongdoing.
In an effort to remedy the situation, Florida Governor Rick Scott launched a program a few years ago to purge ineligible voters from registration rolls. The Department of Justice (DOJ) was quick to sue the state to stop the purging because the agency claims it discriminates against minorities. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has colluded with the DOJ in Florida and the head of the group’s local chapter says purging voter rolls disproportionately affects the state’s most vulnerable groups, namely minorities.”
That happens all the time here. There are videos you can watch where journalists get people to admit on camera that they are illegal aliens who voted, and had no idea they weren’t supposed to. But every time there’s an effort to purge the rolls, it’s fought as “racist.”
I read a report where 2 naturalized citizens’ votes were thrown out by mistake by a voter purge, but they were ultimately allowed to vote.
I don’t care about the politics. It seems so obvious to me that we should periodically audit the voter roles, as well as have a system for dispute when someone believes they have been removed in error.
PNP,
Are you a “Natural Born Citizen?”
*****
Law of Nations, Vattel, 1760
§ 212: “Natural-born citizens are those born in the country of parents who are citizens – it is necessary that they be born of a father who is a citizen. If a person is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country.
*****
U.S. Constitution
Article II
“No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident …”
*****
Here is a portion of Franklin’s letter of Dec. 9, 1775 thanking Dumas for the books:
“… I am much obliged by the kind present you have made us of your edition of Vattel. It came to us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising state make it necessary frequently to consult the law of nations. Accordingly that copy, which I kept, (after depositing one in our own public library here, and sending the other to the College of Massachusetts Bay, as you directed,) has been continually in the hands of the members of our Congress, now sitting, who are much pleased with your notes and preface, and have entertained a high and just esteem for their author…”
*****
Ben Franklin, the Law of Nations “…has been continually in the hands of members of our Congress, now sitting,…”
*****
Quick! Somebody go tell the Supreme Court, Obama, Cruz and Rubio.