Is the scapegoating of immigrants based on real fear or is it a deliberate strategy?

Asian Americans joined recent protests against Donald Trump's immigration policies.

ONCE AND FOR ALL, let's get this straight: undocumented immigrants do not raise the crime rate!

Despite the fear-mongering rhetoric and departmental decrees and executive orders coming from Donald Trump and his toadie Attorney General Jeff Sessions, numerous studies have shown that those cities that have establish good and trusting relationships with the immigrant communities, undocumented or not, crime statistics have been reduced.

In uncertain times spurred either by an unsteady economy or social unease, people look for a scapegoat. Hitler picked on the Jews, Pol Pot chose the educated elite, Shiite Muslims are blamed Sunni Muslims. From Day One of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, his bogeyman are immigrants. and the vast amount of crime they allegedly commit. More specifically, nonwhite immigrants. No one talks about the undocumented immigrants from Canada or Europe.

We Belong Together, an initiative of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, released a report on the impact of the president’s immigration executive orders on women and families. The report’s authors, Amanda Baran and Sameera Hafiz, write:

Prior to the election of Donald Trump, immigrant communities faced heightened levels of immigration enforcement and deportation, including the resurgence of home raids and the detention of mothers and children fleeing gender-based violence. In his first 100 days in office, Trump has dramatically shifted this baseline, criminalizing even the everyday actions of immigrant women and families.

An American Immigration Council study done in 2015 found that not only are immigrants less likely to commit serious crimes or be incarcerated than native-born residents, but high rates of immigration correlate with even lower rates of violent and property crimes.

"For more than a century, innumerable studies have confirmed two simple yet powerful truths about the relationship between immigration and crime: immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of immigration are associated with lower rates of violent crime and property crime," said the AIC study. 

"This holds true for both legal immigrants and the unauthorized, regardless of their country of origin or level of education. In other words, the overwhelming majority of immigrants are not 'criminals' by any commonly accepted definition of the term. For this reason, harsh immigration policies are not effective in fighting crime."

The Trump administration's threat to withhold funds from so-called "sanctuary cities," has thus far, been tempered by the courts that have issued stay orders based on the apparent unconstitutionality of the federal decrees and policies. Sessions has vowed to appeal the judicial decision made in San Francisco.

Sessions threat came via sent a letter to 16 sanctuary jurisdictions including the state of California. A press release accompanying the letters falsely claims that “many of these jurisdictions are also crumbling under the weight of illegal immigration and violent crime.”

Crime stats, however, show that immigrants are less likely to be criminals than native-born citizens. In fact, numerous studies conclude that cities that protect immigrants tend to have even less rates of crime when compared to others.

Using the language of fear, Texas' Senate Bill 4 is a legislative attempt to withhold monies from cities who do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials and to allow local police to ask the status of anyone who looks suspiciously like an undocumented immigrant will also likely find itself in the courts when Gov. Abbott signs the bill, which he is very likely to do.

RELATED: Asian/American legislator makes emotional appeal vs. SB4

The police chiefs of eight major cities in Texas opposed SB4 and published a joint letter in the Dallas Morning News.

"Immigration enforcement is a federal obligation," says the letter. "While the federal government has not been able or willing to address this issue, any effort by the state of Texas to address immigration reform will be ineffective."

The letter from police chiefs said that "SB 4 is not the answer to immigration reform; rather it is political pandering that will make our communities more dangerous."

According tot he AIC study, as the immigrant population has increased over the years, rates of violent crime have decreased. Between 1990 and 2013, the number of undocumented immigrants went from 3.5 million to 11.2 million.

“During the same period, FBI data indicate that the violent crime rate declined 48 percent — which included falling rates of aggravated assault, robbery, rape, and murder,” the study states. “Likewise, the property crime rate fell 41 percent.”

"Policymakers who look at the entire foreign-born population of the United States through a law-enforcement lens are seeing things that aren’t really there," said the AIC report. "As renowned psychologist Abraham H. Maslow wrote many years ago, 'it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.'

"The blunt weapon that is the U.S. immigration-enforcement apparatus is being wielded against a widening swath of the immigrant community, regardless of their ties to this country, regardless of whether or not they are actually criminals. It is long past time for U.S. immigration policies to accurately reflect the diversity and complexity of immigration to this country, based not on a reflexive politics of fear and myth, but on sound analysis and empirical evidence," the AIC concludes. 

But Trump and the power brokers he represents have shown a resistance to facts, preferring to use lies and half-truths in order to stoke the racial animus and fears of an uninformed populace so that they can stay on top of the social pecking  order, keep their own position of power. And if they can fatten their wallets along the way, so much the better.

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AG Sessions wants tougher enforcement vs. immigrants

SCREEN CAPTURE

Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions wants the DOJ to make enforcement of immigration laws a priority for the DOJ.

U.S. ATTY.  General Jeff Sessions last week released a memo directing federal prosecutors to prioritize the prosecution of immigration status-related “crimes,” including an increase in felony charges for immigration status violations.

The memo also prioritizes prosecution of people for transporting or harboring undocumented immigrants.

“For those that continue to seek improper and illegal entry into this country, be forewarned: This is a new era. This is the Trump era," Sessions declared to an audience of Customs and Border Protection personnel. Immigration cases already make up 50 percent of the Department of Justice attorneys' caseload.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five civil rights organizations, condemns the April 12 memorandum.

“The administration’s recently announced policy of prosecuting people for entry into the U.S. without permission is cruel and dangerous. Separating families does not seem to be enough for this administration," reads the AAAJ statement. "Now they want to throw mothers and fathers in prison who are crossing the border to flee harsh, unsafe, economic conditions—seeking safety for their children and the right to put food on the table. Undocumented immigrants are human beings who seek safety, work, and a better life."

Although the Trump administration has targeted border crossers from Latin America, among the 11 million estimated immigrants without documentation, about 1.7 million are from Asia.

Sessions’ policy and language fosters fear by falsely by painting every undocumented immigrant as criminals and gang members when facts clearly do not support this alternative reality. Many are children trying to escape violence in their home countries. "It’s shameful that we must remind Attorney General Sessions and President Trump that immigrants, both with and without papers, are the bedrock of our nation" said the AAAJ.

Furthermore, prioritizing prosecutions for harboring or transporting of undocumented immigrants appears to be aimed at humanitarian workers and other “good Samaritans” to deter them from assisting undocumented immigrants in any way, such as taking someone to the hospital or treating someone in an emergency situation, the AAAJ statement explained.

Targeting border crossers for criminal prosecution will inevitably sweep up asylum-seekers fleeing violence and persecution and further deter victims of trafficking and abuse from coming forward for fear of criminal prosecution. The mass prosecution and deportation efforts of this administration are unconscionable, shameful actions that are reminiscent of Japanese incarceration when people of Japanese descent were targeted based on their nationality, forcibly removed from their homes, and imprisoned.

The rhetoric and policies coming from the Trump administration are eerily similar to past efforts to scapegoat immigrants that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act and limited immigration from all Asian countries to almost zero. The Trump administration appears intent on persecuting immigrants and determined to heighten anti-immigrant hysteria at the expense of other, more pressing issues facing our nation.

AAAJ urges Congress to stand up as a check against this extreme anti-immigrant agenda. Asian Americans Advancing Justice also supports the passage of state and local policies that disentangle state and local law enforcement from deporting community members.

Senators and congressmembers will have an opportunity to vote on the immigration enforcement budget in a couple of weeks. "We urge them to deny the Administration any additional funds for their anti-immigrant agenda,” said the AAAJ.

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St. Paddy's Day: The lighter story of undocumenteds

Donald Trump welcomed Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

IRELAND'S PRIME MINISTER, Enda Kenny, gave a lesson about America and the value of immigrants to Donald Trump, but it is not certain Mr. Trump got the very subtle dig.

On the occasion of St. Patrick's Day, Kenny urged Trump to help undocumented Irish immigrants living in the U.S., saying they just want to "Make America great."

He reminded the president that there are 50,000 undocumented Irish people living and working in the U.S. during his one-on-one meeting at the White House.

Ireland’s prime minister, Enda Kenny, has urged Donald Trump to help Irish people living in the US illegally, saying they just want to “make America great.”

About 50,000 Irish citizens are believed to be living illegally in the US, and Kenny and other Irish leaders have previously called for a way to allow them to stay in the country legally.

Kenny said: “We would like this to be sorted. It would remove a burden of so many people that they can stand out in the light and say, now I am free to contribute to America as I know I can. And that’s what people want.”

Kenny also urged Trump to consider providing more work visas “for young people who want to come to America and to work here.”

"We did discuss the question of immigration, which is so important to the fabric of our people. And I know that in this country, this is an issue that the administration and the president are reflecting upon...We discussed that very constructively this morning," Kenny said at a Thursday lunch event, hosted by House Speaker Paul Ryan at the U.S. Capitol after the two met at the White House.

"It is easier being illegal here when you're white," Shauna, an undocumented Irish immigrant, told CNN. "It's not easy, of course, you have that paranoia but there isn't the racial element. It's a bit easier to stay under the radar."

Orla Kelliher of the Aisling Irish Community & Cultural Center in New York City, said in her 20 years in America, she "has not seen this level of anxiety or fear of the unknown." I wish that CNN asked her, though, if ICE has conducted any raids on the Aisling center.

Undocumented Irish are not the largest group of people who have overstayed their visas. That honor belongs to Canada with over 93,000 undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The combined countries of Europe account for over 123,000. Those are piddlling numbers compared to the total of 11 million undocumented Americans ... still ... you wonder if the light pigmentation of their skin has anything to do with it.

Undocumented Americans urged to open up and tell their stories online

Jose Antionio Vargas, seated in front, and some of the participants who told their stories to Define American. 

JUST IN TIME for the July 4th weekend when Americans will celebrate our nation's birthday, Jose Antonio Vargas, perhaps one of the best well-known undocumented Americans, is calling for all of the undocumented, their friends and families to tell their stories - borrowing the parlance of the LGBT community - to come out.

In an unprecedented national effort to improve the perception of undocumented immigrants, Define American launched its Coming Out campaign yesterday - calling on undocumented immigrants to empower themselves by publicly announcing their immigration status to friends, family and their communities.

Define American is a media and culture campaign using the power of story to transcend politics and shift conversation around immigration, identity, and citizenship in America.

Whatever your background or beliefs, the campaign is about asking how we define what it means to be American, and elevating the conversation about how we engage as citizens, says Vargas, who came to the United States from the Philippines when he was 12-years old.

To start, the conversation is about immigration.

Our immigration system is broken, and fixing it requires a conversation that's bigger and more effective than the one that we've become accustomed to.

"I've come out twice in my life - first, as a teenager, to tell my classmates that I am gay; second, as an adult, to tell the country I grew up in that I am an undocumented American. While both risky in their own ways, each resulted in a kind of personal liberation that changed the perceptions of my friends, co-workers, and those close to me. We ‘come out’ to let people in,” said Vargas, Define American founder and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

On the heels of last week’s landmark ruling on marriage equality, the campaign draws inspiration from Harvey Milk’s call on closeted LGBT Americans to come out, as well as the courageous coming out of undocumented youth (also known as DREAMers) across the country in the past few years. The effort aims to empower undocumented Americans by joining a broad online community and owning their immigration stories. 

The campaign will be centered around an innovative online platform that gives those coming out the opportunity to record their personal story and share it through Define American’s website. For those concerned about the risks of coming out, the site includes legal resources provided by the National Immigration Law Center. 

In addition to the storytelling tool, Define American has created a video featuring undocumented Americans of diverse ages and ethnic backgrounds declaring their immigration status publicly.

RELATED: Jose Antonio Vargas: An undocumented American  

Asians are part of the immigration debate

Define American is a media and culture campaign using the power of story to transcend politics and shift conversation around immigration, identity, and citizenship in America.

Whatever your background or beliefs, our campaign is about asking how we define what it means to be American, and elevating the conversation about how we engage as citizens.

To start, the conversation is about immigration.

Our immigration system is broken, and fixing it requires a conversation that's bigger and more effective than the one that we've become accustomed to.

Learn more about the Define American team.
The request from Define American is simple: Let's talk

For more stories, click here.

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