In DC, Last Week's Hard-Working Day Laborer Is Today's Burglar
06/17/2008
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This item should be a cautionary tale about overpopulating the ranks of foreign workers, particularly the annoying illegal ones. When the economy tanks, they take up crime because they want to maintain their American lifestyles.

And a police officer says so, not your humble correspondent.

But hey, they're only doing it to feed their families, so there's no problema, right?

A wave of burglaries is spreading across the Washington area, and police say illegal immigrants, hit by police crackdowns and the drop in new construction, are likely playing a key role.

"The immigrant community is at a tipping point," said Montgomery County police community liaison Officer Luis Hurtado. "The poor economy is pushing more immigrants to turn to crime."

In the first five months of this year, burglaries climbed 10 to 20 percent in many jurisdictions.

The District of Columbia had the greatest increase, jumping 20 percent from 1,370 in the first five months of 2007 to 1,638 for the same period this year.

Montgomery County police said they’ve averaged 288 burglaries a month for the first five months of this year, up 23 per month, or nearly 10 percent, from last year. [...]

Crime experts have mixed opinions on the role illegal immigrants play when it comes to breaking the law. Criminologists either believe illegals are more prone to criminal behavior because they’ve already broken one law upon entering the country, or they will more likely keep their hands clean, fearing deportation. [Washington-area police report wave of burglaries, cite illegal immigrants, By Freeman Klopott, San Francisco Examiner, June 16, 2008]

I spoke with a former prosecutor last week who is not involved with this issue, and he said in his experience in North Carolina, once the psychological line of committing a crime had been crossed, more wrongdoing often followed. In for a dime, in for a dollar, as they say.

Furthermore, VDARE.com's Steve Sailer prognosticated in 2006 about future foreign felons: Is there a post-Housing Bubble illegal immigrant crime wave coming?

Apparently the answer is "Yes."

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