Immigration and Donald Trump
Immigrants – both those authorized and those unauthorized to come to America – are living in America. While crime has been plaguing America – and the rest of the world – for years, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been bellowing that there is a connection between crime and immigration and telling his supporters that immigrants are more likely to be criminals than Americans. To support his thin arguments, he cited the recent case of a San Francisco woman killed by a five-time Mexican deportee and repeat criminal offender. Nevertheless, Mr. Trump does not have or understand the whole truth.
There is no complete information regarding immigration and crime; nevertheless, Mr. Trump’s categorizing immigrants as criminals does not describe the vast majority of undocumented immigrants. In addition, the vast majority of inmates in American state prisons and jails are not immigrants.
Moreover, generally speaking, first-generation immigrants, whether documented or undocumented, wish to stay out of trouble; they enter the U.S. to work and work hard, take care of their families, and live in peace and harmony with their neighbors. They do not come to America to commit crimes or cause trouble. While Mr. Trump may cite an anecdote, in reality a link between crime and undocumented immigrants is hard to find, but easy to mouth. Violent crime and immigrants exist independently of each other. To use a few examples of immigrants who have committed violent crimes to stain the reputation of all immigrants is unfair and unwarranted and does not represent the entire immigrant population. Simply put, Mr. Trump is not telling the whole story and is sadly misinformed. Let’s hope and pray he stops repeating this false information.
If you are an immigrant and you are in trouble with the police or immigration officials, you have rights and legal remedies available. If you have questions about America’s immigration laws and policies, talk to a immigration lawyer. For more information and to have questions answered, contact Nashville Attorney Perry A. Craft.
Perry A. Craft has dedicated his life to helping people in need. He has tried, settled, or resolved numerous civil and criminal cases in State and Federal courts, and has represented teachers and administrators before school boards, administrative judges, and the state Board of Education. Learn more about Attorney Craft.