Letters to the Editor
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Kudos to Geraldo...
...for being such a strong advocate, and generating this thoughtful discussion. I've long observed the angry tone of those who opppose immigration reform. I'm so glad that anger at its worst has been memorialized on YouTube.
The immigration debate has nothing to do with crime. As Geraldo points out, the crime story was just an excuse to make a cheap political point. The immigration debate is about fear and anger - fear of those who are different from us, and anger that Americans are losing jobs to foreigners. To pretend that it's about anything else is disingenuous.
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cordelia525, i don't think it's the fear of "difference"
so much as fear of "numbers". from what is in the air (who knows what the real figures are?) 25% of the country is latino. we are led to believe that in 50 years that will become 50%. and we look south to latin america and see NO countries that we'd like to be like. perhaps for reagan and bush, an all-controlling elite is just what is needed, but not for the rest. that is what, i believe, is the impetus behind the "english only" movement - fear that they will not assimilate, and instead *we* will become them. is that fear irrational? mafia-type elites control many areas of the world. democracies are rare - and heterogeneous democracies rarer still.
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Convoluted Speculation
I've never read an article filled with more speculation, followed by excuses for the speculation, than this one. No wonder Sampson sometimes gets angry reactions. What he tells us of his research seems to point to the truth behind the saying that there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics." Actually, a few hard numbers might have bolstered the argument, although a failure to provide them leads me to believe they would not have helped. One thing that a lot of research has shown is that poverty leads to increased crime, and many illegal immigrants live in poverty.
It may come as a surprise to many on the left, but there are some liberals, like me, who think that illegal immigrants are criminals as soon as they cross the border in violation of the laws of this country. It’s simple; you break the law, you are a criminal. I do not see their actions as helpful to this country or their own. They contribute to problems of resources here and they deprive their own country of their hard work and determination to succeed. Additionally, illegal immigrants are exploited by wealthy Americans who desire only cheap, compliant labor, often disguising that greedy self-interest behind some contrived concern for the welfare of the immigrant. Meanwhile, illegal immigration increases the wage/benefit pressure on average working Americans trying to live with decreasing income and struggling to overcome rising health care and education costs.
Of course, those of us who think that illegal immigration is a problem spend most of our time being accused of racism, or of having a cruel, authoritarian attitude towards fellow humans in need. Nothing could be further from the truth. I would love to see the immigrations laws in this country adjusted to allow a limited number of legal immigrants to enter the country to seek eventual citizenship. I would also like to see the United States do more to pressure the governments of Mexico and other countries to improve the living conditions in their own country. What I do not want to see is more and more illegal immigrants allowed across the border to be exploited by those too cheap to pay a decent wage. All that will lead to is the same living conditions in this country that these immigrants left behind in their home country and that would be the greatest crime of all.
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Scots/Irish Dueling Culture
As a Canadian of both Scots and Irish ancestry, I'm somewhat surprised by the statement that "there are many scholars who attribute the subculture of violence and honor of violence in American society to Scottish-Irish dueling culture that was brought over centuries ago."
Was the immigration to Canada and the United States of the Scots and Irish so different? I am unaware of a "subculture of violence and honor of violence" in Canadian society.
Also, perhaps Professor Sampson can expand a bit on the difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants, if he has access to that data. As previously noted in letters, there is a difference, and if there is not in fact a statistical difference, that ought to be noted in the article.
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Let's hear from some NON-immigrant descendants
O'Reilly. Hmmm. What is that? Cherokee? Lakota? Apache maybe?
As the descendant of 18th- and 19th-century European immigrants, I find it the height of arrogance, obtuseness and hypocrisy for other descendants of immigrants to this country (even those whose ancestors arrived before it was a country) to criticize today's immigrants.
Let's remember that the primary cause of ILLEGAL immigration is the ridiculously low quotas for legal immigration.
If such quotas had been in place since 1607, I doubt my or O'Reilly's ancestors would have been let in.
Most of us whose ancestors arrived before the Civil War entered this country with no restrictions at all on immigration. If today's rules had been in place when his ancestors arrived, O'Reilly himself would be the descendant of illegal immigrants.
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Pandering is always wrong.
Scottish-Irish dueling culture?! I suppose you could find a scholar (singular) who might back up this ridiculous theory. Then to extropolate from this that America would have less crime with fewer immigrants is about as harebrained as saying that all illegal immigrants are more likely to carry out other crimes because they are "criminals."
I am pretty left-leaning in my politics, but I wouldn't mind a little Guiliani-esque crackdown on quality of life crimes in my immigrant-sated neighborhood.
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poverty
Illegal immigrants drive down wages. Just ask those in the meat packing business who at one time used to earn about $15 an hour. Thanks to illegal immigration those wages have dropped to near minimum wage.
This is one of those fun things you can play with bean counters in academia. If Jorge is a hard working, heads down kind of guy who wants to keep his nose clean after slipping over the border illegally, and he comes into the country and does his part to depress wages, isn't he in fact contributing to an increase in crime? Keep in mind that for decades, everyone has equated poverty with increases in crime levels. Leftists make this point all the time as part of a larger attempt to increase public spending. The target recipients are usually described as "at risk" or in "high risk" groups. So given this, isn't it untrue to say that illegal aliens reduce crime when in fact they increase it by destroying the middle class? The lost members of this backbone of society who've seen the American dream disappear turn to what? Crime? If decades of political and liberal rhetoric is correct, then yes. The illegals may not be direct agents in crime, but they do increase the level of poverty, thus promoting a socio-economic environment where criminal behavior is more likely.
Keep in mind that people like the good doctor represent the establishment. They will never, ever produce a study that threatens the mercantilist economic system we have. All you Chomskyites who believe that public intellectuals are invariably ass kissers of those in power would do well to apply the same principal when reading the opinions of people like the professor interviewed. It's not just about foreign policy -- it's about the domestic as well. The same gubbamint that crushes little people abroad in places like Iraq is more than happy to do it to you here -- don't think that being little and American somehow shields you from private wealthy interests. Everyone illegal alien is subsidized by the public for the benefit of corporations and big gubbamint politicians, Republican and Democrat alike.