The myth of immigrant criminality and the paradox of assimilation

[Lost-in-FL]

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http://www.ailf.org/ipc/special_report/sr_022107.pdf

Because many immigrants to the United States, especially
Mexicans and Central Americans, are young men who
arrive with very low levels of formal education, popular stereotypes
tend to associate them with higher rates of crime
and incarceration. The fact that many of these immigrants
enter the country through unauthorized channels or overstay
their visas often is framed as an assault against the “rule of
law,” thereby reinforcing the impression that immigration
and criminality are linked. This association has fl ourished
in a post-9/11 climate of fear and ignorance where terrorism
and undocumented immigration often are mentioned in the
same breath.
But anecdotal impression cannot substitute for scientifi
c evidence. In fact, data from the census and other
sources show that for every ethnic group without exception,
incarceration rates among young men are lowest for
immigrants, even those who are the least educated. This
holds true especially for the Mexicans, Salvadorans, and
Guatemalans who make up the bulk of the undocumented
population. What is more, these patterns have been observed
consistently over the last three decennial censuses, a
period that spans the current era of mass immigration, and
recall similar national-level fi ndings reported by three major
government commissions during the fi rst three decades
of the 20th century. The problem of crime in the United States
is not “caused” or even aggravated by immigrants, regardless
of their legal status. But the misperception that the opposite is
true persists among policymakers, the media, and the general
public, thereby undermining the development of reasoned
public responses to both crime and immigration.

[EFerrari]

1. Bookmarked. Thanks!