In June, Victor Martinez Hernandez was charged with murdering Rachel Morin, a mother of five, in Maryland. Police in Oklahoma tracked down a repeat offender using DNA samples recovered from a Los Angeles home invasion in which a 9-year-old girl and her mother were assaulted. Police say the suspect came to the United States illegally to avoid prosecution for at least another murder in December 2022 in his native El Salvador.
“That should never have been allowed to happen.” said Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler cited numerous red flags that were missed in this case. his office arrested Hernandez of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
like member Venezuelan gangster Torren de Aragua He was sentenced to life in prison last week. Hernandez’s case in the murder of Laken Riley in Georgia shines a light on the federal government’s failure to properly investigate and track illegal immigrants.
These gaps have led to widespread claims that undocumented immigrants have less involvement in the criminal justice system than native-born Americans. But a review of the available data shows that the criminal histories of millions of immigrants who President-elect Trump is prioritizing for deportation have been reduced by illegal entry, lax enforcement, and lax data collection by federal and “sanctuary” authorities. It has been shown that this is still unclear due to the ” Jurisdiction.
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Additionally, an analysis of available statistics by RealClearInvestigations suggests that crime rates among non-citizens are significantly underestimated. A separate RCI analysis, based on estimates prepared by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ), found that by July 21, 2024, crimes committed by illegal aliens who entered the U.S. will cost the country approximately $166.5 billion. This suggests that this has occurred. These criminals entered the United States disproportionately during the Biden administration.
The problem begins with an incomplete initial review by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Criminal histories of immigrants from distant countries can be somewhat difficult to determine because record-keeping is often poor. It is also impractical to hold each person in custody until they pass a rigorous background check. As a result, ICE routinely releases large numbers of illegal aliens into the country on their own recognizance, many of whom are later found to have criminal records in their home country.
In response to a request from Texas Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez, ICE reported this summer: Released 7.4 million such “undetained” non-citizens. It has invaded the United States over the past 40 years or so. ICE reports that these include 662,566 noncitizens with criminal records. 435,719 people have been convicted in their home countries and a further 226,847 have criminal charges pending.. However, these exact numbers do not indicate whether the crimes in the latter group were committed in the defendants’ home countries or in the United States.
In a July 21 letter to Congressman Gonzalez, ICE stated that 13,099 of these detainees have been convicted of murder and 1,845 have criminal charges for murder. Reported. A further 9,461 people have been convicted of sex crimes (not including assault or commercial sex) and 2,659 have pending charges. Convictions included assault (62,231), robbery (10,000), sexual assault (15,811), weapons offenses (13,423), and dangerous drugs (56,533). It also includes crimes.
These numbers are only an indication of the severity of the crimes, as they list only the most serious crimes committed by each individual. For example, a murderer who commits a sex crime is only counted as a murderer. This does not include the fact that millions of immigrants are breaking the law by being in the United States. It also does not take into account violations of laws related to working without proper authorization or the widespread use of stolen Social Security numbers to secure employment.
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The 662,566 convicted and potential criminals represent 9% of the 7.4 million released noncitizens.
This statistic leaves out much of the relationship between crime and illegal immigrants. Noncitizens listed in the National Document Data have either surrendered to border guards or been arrested at the border. Those who avoid surrendering are likely to have criminal records or other reasons for evading authorities. However, there are some people who are not included in this figure to avoid arrest. This group includes “fugitives,” or people who are observed crossing the U.S. border illegally but are not arrested or turned away. and Up to 38% of Border Patrol agents shifted From monitoring to processing operations 30% of surveillance cameras Because it’s not working, millions of people likely entered the United States undetected, potentially including some of the most dangerous individuals.
Customs and Border Protection estimates that: There were approximately 2 million such “vacations” He has been in Japan since 2021.
Data on processed immigrants also underestimate the problem. Criminals rarely commit just one crime. for example, From 1990 to 2002in the 75 most populous counties in the United States, 70% of people convicted of violent felonies had a previous arrest; 56% had a previous conviction.. in Washington, DC in 2023. The average murder suspect is arrested 11 times. before committing murder. 30 state data show In 2005, 60.1% of offenders released from prison were rearrested within two years. 73.5% were arrested Within 4 years. The ICE dataset provides one entry for each individual.
Most violent crimes do not result in arrests, so looking at arrests and convictions in these countries underestimates whether illegal immigrants are criminals. By 2022, every city in the U.S. Only 35.2% of violent crimes resulted in an arrest.. While 50.6% of murder cases resulted in an arrest, only 24.1% of rape cases, 22.7% of robbery cases, and 39.9% of aggravated assault cases resulted in an arrest.
As the murders of Laken Riley and Rachel Morin made clear, it is difficult to calculate the full cost of crime to families and society.
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Use tools developed by National Institute of Justice (NIJ), RCI estimated the likely minimal economic costs of illegal alien crimes. The study’s results are based on the dollar amount of each of the 662,566 “unrestrained” non-national offenders on ICE’s list, assuming they only committed the crime they were previously charged with once in the United States. We calculated the estimated costs for those involved.
ICE provided Rep. Gonzalez with numbers for 42 different crimes, but NIJ only calculated the costs to victims. 8 types of crime. “This is an important step forward for the NIJ report,” said Vanderbilt University professor Mark Cohen, a co-author of the original NIJ report. The list has been updated Fifteen of the crime categories reported by ICE include murder, sexual assault, sex crimes, robbery, assault, arson, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, weapons crimes, drugs, fraud, alcohol crimes, gambling, and stolen property. are. Cohen’s latest numbers provide estimates of harm caused by child abuse, drunk driving, and vandalism, but ICE did not collect numbers on these crimes.
NIJ’s estimated losses from crime victimization include medical/ambulance, mental health care, police/fire service costs, social/victim services, property loss/damage, lost productivity (work, home, school), Includes financial loss (fear). , pain, suffering, loss of quality of life).
Of the estimated $166.5 billion in crime costs, homicides account for nearly $153.8 billion (here’s a breakdown of crime costs by crime type): available here). An additional $6 billion is related to sexual assault/sexual offenses, and an additional $5.2 billion is related to sexual assault and sexual offenses.
Half of the crimes committed by these non-custodial persons have no cost estimate. These crimes include kidnapping, embezzlement, extortion, smuggling, traffic violations, and weapons offenses.
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These criminal illegal aliens have entered the United States under multiple administrations, but the scale of the problem is likely even greater under the Biden administration. It’s not just because more illegal aliens are entering the country. Under the Trump administration’s Remain in Mexico policy, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducted background checks on immigrants. This included contacting the migrants’ countries of origin.
ICE officers cannot access the same database to verify immigrants and do not contact immigrants’ home countries. Additionally, the large influx of immigrants overwhelmed the system. The deputy director of ICE denounces this.huge amount of work” agents are faced with, which prevents them from conducting even the limited background checks they do. With so many immigrants entering the country, the government cannot detain them until their backgrounds are properly investigated.
ICE has been processing criminals upon entry without identifying them as criminals. So under the Biden administration, they were simply released into the country. Now they are roaming free in the United States and no one knows where they are.
These numbers are bad, but the reality may be even worse. The Biden-Harris administration has been accused of making the border crisis seem less serious. In mid-September, retired San Diego Border Patrol Chief Aaron Huyck testified Regarding the Biden administration’s order to the president not to publicize arrests of illegal border crossers identified as having ties to terrorists.
The American Immigration Council Strongly opposes President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation policywe estimate that there is a possibility Cost: $88 billion Deport one million illegal immigrants. But if we accept and ignore that estimate, various government benefits The number of ICE illegal criminal immigrants these people may be receiving, 662,556, means it would cost $58.3 billion to remove them, which is the That’s just over a third of the conservative estimate given here of the cost of the crime.
Although the cost of criminal illegal alienation is estimated to exceed $160 billion, the true cost is very likely an underestimate. It assumes that the average criminal entering this country commits only one crime similar to the one he committed in his home country. It also doesn’t take into account the costs incurred by half the illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
John R. Lott Jr. is the following contributor. real clear surveyfocuses on voting and gun rights. His articles have appeared in publications such as: wall street journal, new york times, Los Angeles Times, new york post, USA Todayand chicago tribune. Lott is an economist who has held research and teaching positions at the University of Chicago, Yale University, Stanford University, UCLA, Wharton College, and Rice University.
Syndicated with permission From Real Clear Wire.
