Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Thursday, June 3, 2010

US-MEXICO BORDER STATES AMONG THE SAFEST IN US FBI STUDY SAYS

(Click on chart to make it larger.)



It's one of the safest parts of America, and it's getting safer.


It's the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn't so dangerous after all.

The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report. And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.

 The Customs and Border Protection study, obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request, shows 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them. That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff's deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns or knives.


In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the border for the first time in seven years. So far this year assaults are slightly up, but data is incomplete.

"The border is safer now than it's ever been," said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling.

He said one factor is that with fewer jobs available amid the U.S. recession, illegal immigration has dropped. And responding to security concerns after 9-11, the Border Patrol has doubled the number of agents in the region since

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In Arizona, a stringent new immigration law takes effect next month, requiring police to question suspects' immigration status if officers believe they're in the country illegally. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said in a televised interview last weekend: "We are out here on the battlefield getting the impact of all this illegal immigration, and all the crime that comes with it."
 
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But FBI crime reports for 2009 says violent crime in Arizona declined. And violent crimes in southwest border counties are among the lowest in the nation per capita – they've dropped by more than 30 percent in the last two decades. Of America's 25 largest cities, San Diego – with one out of four residents an immigrant – has the lowest number of violent crimes per capita.



Opponents of increased border security are frustrated by descriptions of a wave of violence when the statistics show the region to be relatively safe."

h/t HuffPost
 

Report from The Arizona Republic
NOGALES, Ariz. - Assistant Police Chief Roy Bermudez shakes his head and smiles when he hears politicians and pundits declaring that Mexican cartel violence is overrunning his Arizona border town.


"We have not, thank God, witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico," Bermudez says emphatically. "You can look at the crime stats. I think Nogales, Arizona, is one of the safest places to live in all of America."

FBI Uniform Crime Reports and statistics provided by police agencies, in fact, show that the crime rates in Nogales, Douglas, Yuma and other Arizona border towns have remained essentially flat for the past decade, even as drug-related violence has spiraled out of control on the other side of the international line. Statewide, rates of violent crime also are down.



"Politicians, mainly, if not exclusively Republican, have made speeches about crime along the Arizona border. But Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, from Pima County, says: "This is a media-created event. I hear politicians on TV saying the border has gotten worse. Well, the fact of the matter is that the border has never been more secure." In Cochise County the "crime rate has been 'flat for at least 10 years, the sheriff added."

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"The Republic reports: "While the nation's illegal-immigrant population doubled from 1994 to 2004, according to federal records, the violent-crime rate declined 35 percent." If illegal immigrantion causes crime then shouldn't crime rates rise with more immigration,not fall? In Arizona the violent-crime rate "dropped from 512 incidents per 100,000 residents in 2005 to 447 incidents in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available."

This decrease in crime in "crime-ridden" Arizona—if you believe the hype about immigrants—continues to show up in the most recent statistics as well. The Wall Street Journal reports, "Arizona's major cities all registered declines" in crime and:
In Phoenix, police spokesman Trent Crump said, "Despite all the hype, in every single reportable crime category, we're significantly down." Mr. Crump said Phoenix's most recent data for 2010 indicated still lower crime. For the first quarter of 2010, violent crime was down 17% overall in the city, while homicides were down 38% and robberies 27%, compared with the same period in 2009."

SOURCE

These facts and data belie what Governer Brewer and the non-Latino population in Arizona have put forward in their arguments in favor of Arizona's newest "Show Me Your Papers" law.

Also--Gov. Brewer is not shy about exaggerating and even making up her own version of history.  She was caught lying about her father and World War II.

12 comments:

Leslie Parsley said...

I have read a few reports about this but am glad you devoted this post to it. The more factual information out there the better.

I still maintain that within a year most of the supporters of this bill will have serious regrets. Where else are they going to get such cheap labor?

Dave Miller said...

Obviously the FBI knows nothing about the reality of the border region.

They have totally been corrupted by the group think of the Obama White House that seems intent on turning the southwest into a second class country.

dmarks said...

There is a border city that is one of the worst in the US: Detroit, MI. It was ranked #2 on the city crimes listing I quickly found.

So, where oh where are Buchanan, Tencredo, and the rest calling for drastic measures against Canadians and the Canadian border?

Dave Miller said...

dmarks, we might add that the 9/11 terrorists did not enter through Mexico, but some of them did through Canada.

dmarks said...

Good point.

dmarks said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dmarks said...

The "raghead" reference about Sikhs in the headline item brings to light a common form of racism: racism against India Indians. They are mocked and hated for their skin color, for their accents, and also by people who hate them because some people in India do better jobs at some things than Americans.

I keep running into these India-Indian haters. I once had one as a teacher, and as soon as I mentioned to someone that the teacher was from India, the person went off on a major rant chock full of stereotypes.

And... Obama is a Sikh? Wha...

Shaw Kenawe said...

"And... Obama is a Sikh? Wha..."

Well he does have brown skin and he was born in Kenya, don't you know--so to idiots like Knotts, that makes him a "raghead."

South Carolina seems to be a breeding ground for racists and morons.

I am aware that there are many fine, good-hearted, smart people who live there. But they apparently don't run for political office.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Read the newest stupidity from Arizona on my sidebar. It's so bizarre and off the wall that one can't believe this is true. And yet it happened--in Arizona.

Between South Carolina and Arizona, I believe there are certain states that have a confederacy of dunces within their borders.

Arizona, along with South Carolina, also has a poor high school graduation rate.

That explains a lot.

Anonymous said...

South Carolina and Arizona not nices places to visit nor would sane people want to live there!

James' Muse said...

This doesn't necessarily mean that immigration=safer cities. But it also means that immigration does not mean more crime.

Crime rates have been trending downward for the last twenty years in the US. No one knows why, exactly.

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