Data Says Sanctuary Counties are Safer
You’ve heard of the gender gap and the generation gap. Well, we have a new one for you. We call it the “fact gap.” It is a phenomenon that arises when a politician spouts words that have no factual basis whatsoever. The sole purpose of these statements appears to be the furthering of the agenda of the politician and his cronies. The lack of any factual support for these statements is apparently irrelevant to those making them. All of which brings us to the recent claim by President Trump that sanctuary cities are hotbeds of crime. But let’s look at the facts before we reactively state that the President is seldom right and wrong again.
What is a “sanctuary jurisdiction”?
A sanctuary jurisdiction is defined as any municipality, county or other political subdivision that has a policy under which it refuses to aid the enforcement of federal immigration laws. It is not merely a few scattered locations. In 2015, for example, there were over 200 jurisdictions that did not honor detention requests from the feds. In California, San Diego is a sanctuary, along with Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The recent claim by Trump fits in well with the goal of promoting ethnic, racial, religious and nationalistic intolerance. But it’s short on facts, primarily because the statement itself is a complete falsehood. Nevertheless, the issue is an important one. On the heels of the statement, Trump signed an executive order that promises to withhold federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions. Incidentally, the executive order was signed on January 25. Less than a week later, San Francisco became the first city to file a lawsuit claiming that the order is unconstitutional.
A day after the order was signed, a study was published that examined the issue in detail. What the study found, comparing sanctuary and non-sanctuary jurisdictions, was that
- there are fewer crimes (including homicide) per capita in sanctuary counties;
- median household income is higher in sanctuary counties;
- the poverty rate is lower in sanctuary counties; and
- the unemployment rate is lower in sanctuary counties.
The conclusion is inescapable. Not only is there no factual support for Trump’s claim, the evidence clearly shows that the complete opposite is true. So much for walking down the street to buy a loaf of bread and getting shot, eh, Don?
Law Office of David P. Shapiro
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