New Report Shows Immigrants Have High Crime Recidivism Rates

Washington, D.C. - New government data shows that immigrants, both legal and illegal, are re-arrested for crimes within three years after they are released.

Fox News was forwarded the report conducted by the House Judiciary Committee and the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service between October 2008 and July 2011. And the results of the study are shocking and have incited Conservative outrage over President Obama’s deportation policies.

According to the data, one in six illegal immigrants is re-arrested within three years of being released for a previous crime. Some the crimes are more minor such as drunk driving or drug-related offenses, but others are arrested for major crimes such as assault, battery, murder, rape and molestation.

Records from Secure Communities showed that 276,412 legal and illegal immigrants were arrested during the period of the study. More than 26,000 were re-arrested for criminal activity.

Of the 26,000 who are rearrested, more than 7,000 were illegal immigrants for crimes which include murder, rape and robbery.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-TX) said, “The Obama Administration could have prevented these senseless crimes by enforcing our immigration laws.”

However, deportations under the Obama Administration are at the highest level in decades. In the fiscal year 2011, 396,000 immigrants were deported, 55 percent of those were guilty of committing crimes.                                          

A spokesperson for the USCIS, Barbara Gonzalez, says many of the individuals included in the report were not removable under current law, or released by local officials before ICE could respond. Gonzalez also said, “Because ICE is congressionally funded to remove a limited number of individuals each year, the agency prioritizes our enforcement.”

The immigration system in America is broken with many people including immigration attorneys, anti and pro-immigration activists calling for sweeping reform.