Gun Control Legislation and Border Security / 2 + 2 = 3
The TLD is not taking a particular side here; both are equally bad and need to be addressed. However, we are going to call out the undeniable hypocrisy around the opposite agendas, once you look at the facts. On one side, a party is all for advancing gun control legislation to keep the American public safe, particularly when it comes to tragic mass shooting incidents across America. We understand that. However, when it comes to border security, offenses committed by illegal criminal aliens, and sanctuary city policies, that same party position is the exact opposite. So, which is it? You are either for public safety, or you're not. Is one a risk and the other not? Let's take a look at the exposure both have to the safety of the American public.
FBI: Active Shooter Incidents in the United States From 2000 to 2018 Report
The FBI concluded that there had been 277 active shooter incidents, 2,430 casualties, including 884 killed and 1,546 wounded from 2000 to 2018. That averages out to 49 deaths per year due to active shooter incidents. The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Implicit in this definition is the shooter's use of one or more firearms.
Public Safety Exposure by Illegal Alien Criminals
Now, let's look at public safety exposure caused by illegal alien criminal convictions, people committing crimes that shouldn't even be in the country. There are State and Federal criminal arrests and offenses. At the Federal level, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) produces a yearly Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) activities report, which identifies, arrests, and removes people who present a danger to national security or a threat to public safety. At the state and local level, on the southern border, the Texas Department of Public Safety participates in the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Priority Enforcement Program (PEP). Participation in PEP enables DHS to work with state and local law enforcement to take custody of individuals who pose a danger to public safety before those individuals are released back into our communities. States like California, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, New York, choose not to participate in the DHS, (PEP) program, or provide the American public with non-citizen Illegal Alien Criminal Conviction statistics. I wonder why? Let's take a look at some of the data we do have at the local level, starting with Texas.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Between June 1, 2011 and January 31, 2020, 212,000 illegal aliens were charged with more than 337,000 criminal offenses. DPS criminal history records reflect those criminal charges have resulted in over 134,000 convictions.
So, in the State of Texas alone, ignoring every other illegal alien violent criminal conviction except homicide, between June 1, 2011, and January 31, 2020, Texas averaged 31 homicides per year. For the border states California, New Mexico, and Arizona, let's be ultra-conservative and work with a simple factor of 1/3 of what Texas reported for criminal homicide during that same time. This is incredibly low, considering the Dept of Justice Prison Population Report, Dec 2017, lists California's non-citizen incarceration rate the highest in the country at 18.8%, Texas is 8%. Additionally, California has more Hispanics incarcerated than Whites by 2:1 at 57,032 to 27,811. Realistically, California's illegal alien violent crimes could be double Texas, but they're not sharing. We will use 1/3 for this exercise.
(TX - 282) + (NM - 94) + (AZ - 94) + (CA - 94) = 564 Homicides
564 homicides between 2011 to 2020 committed by illegal aliens. Divide by nine years, and that's 62 homicides per year, in just those four border states being committed by people that are in the country illegally. You awake yet? We haven't even looked at the Federal numbers from ICE.
In a February letter to NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio, ICE voiced strong concerns about New York City’s lack of cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the impact that lack of cooperation has on the safety of New York residents. In the letter, ICE stated In FY 2019, the ERO New York City field office issued 7,526 detainers on subjects associated with 6,705 criminal charges and 17,873 convictions. The subjects of these detainers had criminal histories including, but not limited to, more than 3,500 assaults, 1,500 DUIs, 1,000 sex crimes, 1,000 weapon offenses, 500 robberies, and 200 homicide offenses. So, is illegal immigration affecting the public safety of Americans?
Federal Level - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Data
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shares responsibility for administering and enforcing the nation’s immigration laws with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) component agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Each agency plays a separate role in immigration enforcement and border protection. According to FY 2019 CBP data, the number of individuals apprehended or found inadmissible nationwide totaled 1,148,024, an increase of 68 percent over the previous fiscal year. The vast majority of this activity occurred along the Southwest Border, where the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) apprehended 851,508 aliens, an increase of 115 percent over the previous year, and a higher number than any of the last ten fiscal years.
ICE continues to carry out its public safety mission with limited resources. As a result, many of the criminal aliens it arrests have extensive criminal histories with multiple convictions or pending charges. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Fiscal Year 2019 Enforcement and Removal Operations Report stated in 2019, there were 123,128 administrative arrests of illegal aliens with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. The criminal history for this group represented 489,063 total criminal convictions and pending charges as of the date of arrest, which equates to an average of four criminal arrests/convictions per alien, highlighting the recidivist nature of the aliens that ICE arrests.
View the illegal alien criminal charges, convictions, and total offenses from the reports listed below. Click the thumbs to enlarge the stats.
Gun Control Legislation and Border Security / CONCLUSION
Again, the TLD is not taking any sides here; both issues are equally bad and need to be addressed. However, no matter how you slice up the data, illegal immigrants committing crimes like homicide and sexual offenses in the U.S. are just as bad, if not worse, then mass shooting incidents. If public safety is the motivation behind gun legislation, why isn't public safety the motivation when it comes to border security and criminal aliens? Why is the mainstream media and politicians in the Democrat party not being honest? They know the facts, why else would California, Arizona, New Mexico, and New York refuse to work with DHS or make their illegal immigrant criminal offenses public.
The conclusion is simple; these issues have nothing to do with public safety; they have everything to do with political narratives. The talking point is that illegal immigrants are the victims of border legislation. One would think any American, regardless of party, would put public safety before politics. No, public safety is selective, depending on the talking point. And, what do both of these narratives have in common? Both narratives are attached to emotional triggers to drive people's opinions and how they feel about them. Not the logical facts.
So, if based on the data, you feel gun legislation is necessary, but don't think border security is also a public safety risk to Americans, well, don't be offended if the word hypocrite slips out.
Don't take our word for it, visit Angel Families.org and read some of their stories.
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