Don’t let outrage outweigh real facts

“It’s a catastrophe and it must stop,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson claims about the Southern border influx; many adults over 30 agree (30% of those ages 30-49 and 60% of those 50 and older call it a crisis, according to a Pew Research Center poll in February).

The front-line Border Patrol agents’ union supported the Senate immigration reform bill crafted by conservative Republican James Lankford, independent Kyrsten Sinema, and Democrat Chris Murphy. “This is absolutely better than what we currently have,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said.

Yet Republicans blocked the bill.

The recent, tragic murder of a Georgia college student, allegedly by a Venezuelan citizen, added debate about immigrant criminality. Yet immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than U.S.-born citizens, according to research from Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky. When my niece was murdered in 1994 in New York, the headline wasn’t “Heinous US citizens of European descent rape and murder child.” Such differences in coverage focus drive misperceptions.

FBI statistics show violent crimes are falling, yet Americans’ concerns are at record levels. When political hacks repeatedly assert “they came after me, they’ll come after you!” and “they’ll take your rights away!,” people get alarmed.

Has the FBI charged you with some crime? Have your amendment or legal rights been curtailed in the past three years? Unless you’re a felon, this is unlikely. A regime is a dictatorship; we have a democracy.

Don’t take the fearmongering bait. Claudia H. Allen

Emmaus