Confronting cynicism

Immigration

Regarding “Border security, immigration a top issue” (Page A13, Monday), as the old saying goes, “There’s lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Larry Korkmas painted a vivid picture of the dangers of illegal immigration, citing statistics from the Texas Department of Public Safety to back up his claim that undocumented immigrants are a grave threat to the safety of Texans.

Readers may be forgiven for buying what he was selling. After all, 193,000 arrests of immigrants between 2011 and 2014 — two-thirds of which were arrests of undocumented immigrants — certainly sounds like a fearsome crime wave. But is it, really?

What Korkmas fails to mention is how these numbers compare with those for non-immigrants. A few minutes of looking up crime statistics on the Texas Department of Public Safety website reveals that during that same four-year period there were 20 times as many arrests of nonimmigrants in Texas. Even correcting for the relative sizes of immigrant and native-born populations, simple math reveals that native Texans are arrested by DPS four times as often per capita as immigrants and twice as often as undocumented immigrants. Or to put it more simply, the arrest numbers Korkmas cited are not evidence that undocumented immigrants are dangerous criminals, it is evidence that they are, in fact, far less likely to commit a crime than those of us born here.

The entire essay is a cynical piece of propaganda that demonizes a particular group of people. Donny Jansen, Houston

Bizarre attack

Regarding “Trump’s latest antics draw GOP rebuke” (Page A21, Sunday), Donald Trump is doing an impressive job of alienating Hispanic Americans in Houston. My informal poll of family and friends indicates a universal repudiation of his despicable comments. Even some in my family and friends who are Republicans indicated they will abstain from voting in November or, more interestingly, vote for Hillary Clinton. Omar D. Lopez, Houston

Silent majority?

The problem is that Donald Trump is telling the truth that no one wants to hear. There are many more Americans beginning to believe that Trump is correct, and it is high time we Americans who have fought for our country stand up and take it back from all of the illegal immigrants who have invaded our country.

Trump has many millions of supporters who are ready, willing and able to once again fight for their country, no matter what it takes. Richard A. Linden, Spring