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The Houston Chronicle - Getting a handle on illegal immigrant crime difficult

Date: Oct. 8, 2006
Issues: Immigration Criminal Justice


Getting a handle on illegal immigrant crime difficult

Numbers are sketchy, but some experts agree group adds strain
Peggy O'hare, as printed in the Houston Chronicle

The slaying of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson by a Mexican national who returned here after being deported has cast another uncomfortable spotlight on the estimated 400,000 illegal immigrants living in the Greater Houston metropolitan area.

Making up about 10 percent of the area's population, this demographic — alternately scorned as freeloaders and defended as hard workers seeking better lives — accounts for 7 percent to 9 percent of those caught up in the local criminal justice system as inmates or defendants.

While various agencies acknowledge such statistics are incomplete, the numbers nonetheless indicate that immigrants living here without authorization have an impact on Harris County's courts and jails, as well as the state's prisons.

Even a single-digit assessment of 7 percent to 9 percent of the people flowing into the doors of these various entities can involve thousands of people and millions of dollars each year.

"I believe it has created a tremendous burden on the criminal justice system," said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, of Austin, who hosted a congressional subcommittee hearing on the immigration controversy in Houston six weeks ago. "Any percentage of illegal aliens coming in the United States with a criminal history is unacceptable, whether it's 1 percent or 10 percent. All you have to do is talk to the family of Rodney Johnson to verify that."

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http://www.house.gov/list/press/tx10_mccaul/morenews/10_8_06_IMM_HC.html

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