President Donald Trump gave a speech before a joint session of Congress to lay down his agenda for the year. During his speech, he referred to something he promised before: the implementation of an agency that would assist victims of undocumented immigrants.
Really? On top of that, he instructed the Department of Homeland Security to “make public a comprehensive list of criminal actions committed by aliens.”
Do immigrants really bring crime to America?
Studies, like the one conducted in 2015 by the American Immigration Council, say, "Nope!" Immigrants are actually "less likely to be criminals than native-born."
However, that is contradictory to everything Trump has said. According to Trump, "When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, [he assumes] are good people.”
Anti-immigration is and has been Trump's rhetoric since the very first controversial speech that launched his campaign. He caught the media's attention with this despite evidence that immigrants commit less crime in sanctuary cities and that the net immigration from Mexico has been at 0.
"The number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined by more than 1 million since 2007," says a study conducted by Pew Research Center released March 2017. But it seems like he is willing to say or do anything to convince the American people that immigrants are evil.
His latest attempt to prove that immigrants bring crime to America was when he announced the so-called new agency "VOICE."
"I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American Victims. The office is called VOICE, Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement," said Trump to members of Congress last Tuesday. "We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests."
To prove his point, Trump had invited four guests who were, allegedly, "victims of vicious acts by immigrants." Jamie Shaw, whose 17-year-old son was "viciously murdered" by an illegal immigrant gang member, and the family of Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Detective Michael Davis. They were basically victims of one undocumented criminal, but this somehow makes all illegal immigrants evil.
"The murder of anyone is a tragedy, and our hearts go out to all families who lose a loved one to violence," Bernie Sanders said in a Facebook post. "But let's be clear about what Donald Trump is doing tonight in inviting family members who saw a loved one murdered by an undocumented immigrant. He is stirring up fear and hatred against immigrants and trying to divide our nation."
"Why didn't Trump invite the family of Srinvas Kuchibhotla, the immigrant from India, who was recently shot down in cold blood by a white-native born American? Didn't his life count?" Sanders wrote. "Why didn't he invite the families of the black parishioners shot down in a church in South Carolina by racist Dylan Roof? Weren't their lives important? President Trump, any murder is a tragedy. Don't use these tragedies to stir up divisions by race and nationality?"
Some Immigrant protection groups have said it is a matter of race. Others point out that Trump is pinning issues on immigrants as a scapegoating technique. In a way, it is easy to blame and attack those in society with few rights, especially when you are trying to implement a mass deportation.
Sanctuary Cities—which are about to be defunded by Trump's administration—are safer than other cities because of the immigrant community's cooperation with the police. Creating a distrust between immigrants and authorities (which will happen if states enforce Trump's new immigration policies) will increase crime and barriers of communication with police.
"On average, counties that did not comply with ICE requests experienced 35.5 fewer crimes per 10,000 people than those that did," NPR wrote.
