The mass-immigration crowd has tried to develop a new story line over the past year, claiming to debunk the idea held by Americans ignorant rubes that immigration contributes to increased crime. Two notable examples are here and here. Unfortunately for the authors, this research is based on Census Bureau data that the bureau itself says can’t be used this way (we have a report in the pipeline on this).

Well, now comes a report based on real numbers from real prosecutions, by the Maricopa County (Phoenix) prosecutor’s office. (PDFs of the press release and the full report.) And – shazam! — illegal aliens contribute to increased crime. They constitute an estimated 9% of the population of the county but make up 22% of those sentenced for felonies there, and more specifically:

  • 16.5% of those sentenced for violent crimes
  • 18.5% of those sentenced for property crimes
  • 33.5% of those sentenced for the manufacture, sale or transport of drugs
  • 50% of those sentenced for crimes related to “chop shops”
  • 35.8% of those sentenced for kidnapping
  • 20.3% of those sentenced for felony DUI.