It has been agreed by the President of the United States, Barack Obama and the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer to work together to bring about a solution for illegal migration. This has come about despite having differences between the two when it comes to the newly implemented law on immigration in Arizona. The disagreement lies on the validity and the requirement of the law that has been approved by Brewer.
This concerted effort would only come about after drawing the exact problems. As per many reports, crime and violence which is one of the key reasons behind implementing this law is actually not such a dire problem as it is made up to be by the lawmakers.
A recent report which was brought out by the US Customs and Border Protection clearly stated that when it comes to violence, the border is one of the least affected areas in the United States. This report was obtained by the Associated Press by using the Freedom of Information Act.
As per the above report, the lowest crime rates in some of the largest cities include Phoenix, San Diego, Austin, Tex and El Paso, Tex. Of these, Austin and El Paso are in walking distance from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico which is a violence prone area.
According to the crime statistics of the FBI, the rate of violent crime in Phoenix has reduced to 17% in the last few years. At the same time, the statistics from the US Bureau of Justice states the rate of violent crime in Arizona has gone down to 447/100,000 in 2008 as compared to 512/100,000 in 2004. With this, the rates for the crimes pertaining to property have also gone down.
The above clearly states that the current immigration law in Arizona was not required to be implemented. It also projects that illegal migration is not a major issue as proclaimed by the advocators of the law. This not only caters to Arizona but other border states in US as well.
If the statistics are to be placed, illegal immigration happens to evade the crime in Mexico more than committing the same in the United States. Also, as per the report by the Bureau of Statistics also stated that the rate of crime has also been reduced by 35.1% between 1994 and 2004. This is despite the rise in illegal immigration.
Thus, sensitive policies such as those pertaining to immigration should be drafted very careful considering the actual issue instead of acting in response to what people are saying.
