In the wake of the attempted assassination, Trump’s campaign messaging continued undeterred, casting immigrants as the source of violence in the United States. Yet the shooting that left Trump with an injured ear was allegedly committed by someone who fits the typical profile of perpetrators of targeted violence — a young, white man described by some former classmates as a bullied loner. The suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks was registered to vote in Pennsylvania, and only citizens may register.
“Targeted violence is often done by angry people who don’t have well thought out narratives but are more impulsive and idiosyncratic,” said Brian Levin, founder of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at CSU San Bernardino.
He said said most targeted violence is committed by young, white men in their teens and early 20s. Studies show immigrants commit less crime than U.S.-born citizens.
Using data collected between 2012 and 2018 from the Texas Department of Public Safety, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that undocumented immigrants had substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens across a number of felony offenses including violent crimes, drug crimes and property crimes.
A similar study by Alex Nowrasteh at the Libertarian Cato Institute found that undocumented immigrants had a homicide rate 14% below that of native-born citizens. Texas is the only state to keep data on the immigration status of people arrested for specific crimes.
Ran Abramitzky, a Stanford University professor who helped lead a nationally representative study comparing incarceration rates among immigrants and U.S.-born citizens from 1870 to 2020, recently told The Times that “as a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the U.S.-born for 150 years.”
But political fear mongering isn’t responsive to facts, Levin said, which is why the GOP will continue blaming immigrants for violent crime.
The stupidest thing is that it would be far simpler to go after the Americans who hire illegals than it would be to find and deport the immigrants.
The people who smuggle them in don’t just drop them off on a street corner; they know the places that need cheap workers.
Going after Americans isn’t punching down on vulnerable people, so it’s not as appealing.
Especially when it’s the jOb CReaToRs
this is why that one florida law that actually did this lead to a farmworker crisis
Farmworkers and construction, and its still ongoing.
Didn’t they also try to promise farm owners that it would not really be enforced to keep the donations flowing?
Because Republican leadership doesn’t actually want to reduce immigration–they just want to keep immigrant labor cheap for the businesses that rely on it.
They ain’t going after their donors like that.