Posted by Jack
The following was taken from a widely circulated internet letter. It makes some startling statistical claims and from a modest amount of research I found that the claims are either not very accurate or are unsupportable. However, some of the claims regarding crime and inmates are pretty close and that is very troubling. I offer a copy of the letter for your review and also some stats I pulled from the net with sources noted that either support or refute the claims.
Feel free to do your own research, because this is an area that is or ought to be of serious concern to every legitimate American Citizen or legal visitor which makes this internet hoax letter still worth reviewing and debating.
1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card. (unsupported, likely pure fiction)
2. 95% of outstanding warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens. (close – see page 2)
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens. (unsupported)
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal , whose births were paid for by taxpayers. (inflated claim – about 50%)
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally (Too high)
6 . Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages. (Unsuported)
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border. (FBI has no idea, gangs are underground, but it is plausable given the numbers of illegals caught in gang activities)
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal. (Unsupportable claim)
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking. (Mostly true)
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.
(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . ) (Not accurate…The U.S.Census Bureau reported that as of 2004, 3.9 million people in L.A.County spoke only English at home; 3.7 million spoke primarily Spanish at home.)
Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States ‘ annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens. (Unsupportable ) The U.S. department of Labor said that the number of farm workers who were undocumented in 1998-1998 was 52% .
In other news today…A man was stabbed behind Safeway on Hw. 32. The parties involved in the incident appeared to be Hispanic males in their early to mid-20’s, a witness said. Police said they can’t confirm that the incident is gang related (hint, hint). The victim was uncooperative and suffered what appeared to be a minor wound.
1. 40% of all workers in L.A. County ( L.A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.
The Los Angeles Times found no indication that this was ever published in their paper. Not satisfied with just stating they never published it they also looked to see if the claim was true. One survey by an agency of the local country government said that maybe 15%, not 40%, of all workers were paid cash. And certainly not all of them were illegals.
2. Police commanders may not want to discuss, much less respond to, the illegal-alien crisis, but its magnitude for law enforcement is startling. Some examples:
In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens.
http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html
“95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens-Mostly Truth!
The most commonly quoted source for this is a report by Heather McDonald and published by the Center for Immigration Studies. She repeated her research on April 13, 2005 in testimony before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on “Immigration, Border Security, and Claims” saying that 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide in Los Angeles targeted illegal aliens. ”
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/illegal-aliens.htm
Note: The Times did try to verify this number and they were told by the District Attorneys office that the government doesn’t keep track of this number and no one would know one way or another.
3. Claim 3: 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens. The paper says they never published this claim. And they were not able to find anything verifying it. They noted that many people who are listed as wanted are listed as unknown and that this is true at the local level and national level.
4. The paper has run many articles about births and immigration but none contained this claim. And this racist email specifically says that 2/3rds of all births in LA were to illegal Mexican immigrants. According to the county 62% of all births were to Hispanic women but obviously a good number of these women are either native born or legal immigrants.
“Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal, whose births were paid for by taxpayers-Inaccurate! According to a report by the Los Angeles Times, about half the births in Los Angeles County in 2004 were to undocumented women. In 1989 California required by law that the state Medi-Cal program be available to pregnant women living in poverty.”
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/illegal-aliens.htm
5. The newspaper says that the closest they find to this claim is an opinion piece they ran by Right-wing Republican congressman Tom Tancredo who is a well-known opponent of immigration. But Tancredo said the number was 20% not 25%.
In other reports I found this, As Investors Business Daily reported in March 2005: “The U.S. Justice Department estimated that 270,000 illegal immigrants served jail time nationally in 2003. Of those, 108,000 were in California. Some estimates show illegals now make up half of California’s prison population, creating a massive criminal subculture that strains state budgets and creates a nightmare for local police forces.”
Citing an Urban Institute study, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies Steven Camorata noted in 2004: “Roughly 17 percent of the prison population at the federal level are illegal aliens. That’s a huge number since illegal aliens only account for about 3 percent of the total population.” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1604385/posts
Nearly 25% of the California prison population is comprised of illegal aliens. In Arizona, illegal aliens make up over 40% of the prison population and in New Mexico, the number is nearly 50%.
Illegal aliens account for nearly 30% of prison populations nationwide. This includes both state and federal prisons. The cost to house these illegal aliens is more than $1.6 billion dollars each year.
Statistics from 2005 indicate that over 75% of automobile thefts that occurred in Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, and New Mexico were either stolen by illegal aliens or used to transport illegal aliens. Almost half of the drivers stopped in California for traffic violations have no driver’s license, insurance, or registration. 92% of those are illegal aliens. In Arizona, 63% of those stopped have no license, registration or insurance and 97% of those people are illegal aliens. New Mexico’s percentages are 66% stopped with no license, insurance and registration and 98% of those are illegal aliens.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/305516/statistics_crimes_commited_by_illegal.html
CHARACTERISTICS OF INMATES IN CALIF.:
Males: 92.8% Females: 7.2%
Parole Violators: 17.3%.
Race:
29.7% white;
31.2% black;
34.0% hispanic;
5.1% other.
http://www.newnation.org/NCR/reference/NCR-CA-prisons.html
“Today, criminal aliens account for over 29 percent of prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities and a higher share of all federal prison inmates.2 These prisoners represent the fastest growing segment of the federal prison population. Over the past five years, an average of more than 72,000 aliens have been arrested annually on drug charges alone.”
http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters0b9c
9. “21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking-Mostly Truth! As the Spanish-speaking population of Los Angeles has grown so has the presence of Spanish-speaking media. We counted about 18 stations in Los Angeles that are either Spanish or are multi-cultural and include Spanish in their music or programming. At this writing, four of the top ten stations in Los Angeles are Spanish and the number-one station is usually Spanish.”
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/illegal-aliens.htm
11. “The U.S. department of Labor said that the number of farm workers who were undocumented in 1998-1998 was 52% . Regarding welfare, most illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare except for elementary and high school education and emergency medical care. Children born in the U.S. are citizens and qualify for certain public assistance. But what is generally thought of as welfare is available only to citizens or legal immigrants.”
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/i/illegal-aliens.htm