Crime and Immigration

Crime is the sleeper issue of this campaign, especially in Republican-leaning districts.

While on a nationwide basis violent crime is actually down, in smaller cities it is up by double-digit numbers. For example, in Indianapolis violent crime is up 27 percent, and in Jacksonville it’s up 22 percent. There are many other examples.

I have had a working theory for quite a while that the anger towards illegal immigration is only partially explained by job security. The biggest reason that many Americans dislike illegal immigration is a fear of crime.

The Democrats now sense this and are outbidding the White House on spending for immigration enforcement, with a special emphasis on deporting people convicted of major drug offenses and violent crimes. 
According to one news report, “A Homeland Security budget bill now moving through the House Appropriations Committee specifies that at least $800 million be spent after Oct. 1 to identify and remove the most violent and dangerous criminals from the U.S.”

Republicans need to answer this challenge by calling for the deportation of all violent criminals who are illegal immigrants and also call for more support for the Mexican military that is currently engaged in a full-fledged war against Mexican drug gangs.

As I have pointed out in an earlier report, Mexican drug gangs are moving in on the turf of African-American gangs, cutting out the middleman and becoming both the supplier and the seller of illegal drugs to addicts and those who might become addicts. Their products include crystal meth, cocaine and heroin. It is in our national security interests to see the Mexican army win this war against the drug cartels, and we need to support them with real money and real weapons.

This is a bigger security risk to America than terrorism because it infects the soft underbelly of our nation, America’s heartland.

A recent Gallup poll found that more people see crime as worsening, rather than improving. “[T]he public was much more optimistic about crime a few years ago than it is today, according to Gallup’s annual crime poll, updated Oct. 4-7.”

The scourge of crystal meth is very real, however, and the influx of criminal drug gangs is not just a figment of the American imagination. Republicans need to up the ante on this issue and make sure that they have a plan to make America’s families safe from the drug merchants.

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