Illegal Aliens in San Diego County Commit 12% of Felonies, Study Says

A new study has found that illegal aliens represented 12% of the people arrested for felony offenses in San Diego County during a recent one-year period but that they are less likely to be accused of violent crimes or narcotics violations than U.S. citizens.

Undocumented residents are thought to represent about 5% or less of the county’s permanent population of about 2.4 million, according to U.S. immigration authorities. However, the county, which shares a long border with Mexico, is crossed by hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants headed for the U.S. interior every year.

The study’s sponsors, the San Diego Assn. of Governments, a regional research and planning group composed of representatives from each of the county’s municipalities, called the analysis the most comprehensive ever done.

Source of Debate

The findings--indicating that aliens make up a proportionally higher number of criminal suspects than U.S. citizens--immediately ignited renewed controversy about an emotion-filled issue that has been a source of debate in border communities for a number of years.

“I question the methodology and the motivation of this study,” said Jess D. Haro, chairman of the board of the Chicano Federation of San Diego County.

Latino groups here have long challenged the wisdom of separating out crime numbers involving illegal aliens, as they maintain that such comparisons perpetuate a negative stereotype of immigrants--mostly from Mexico--and serve little useful purposes. Moreover, critics have attacked the use of arrest numbers as misleading, contending that mostly white law enforcement officers have historically been more inclined to arrest minorities.

Racial Imbalance

“This kind of study is never credible as long as 95% of the judges, prosecutors and cops are white and are filling the jails mostly with people who are black and Hispanic,” Haro said. “It perpetuates the perception that we are all criminals.”

Susan Pennell, a co-author of the report, said the study, which took 2 1/2 years to complete, was needed so local authorities could learn how immigration affected their criminal justice budgets.

San Diego-area officials plan to use the data to seek additional federal funds to offset the immigration-related criminal justice costs, Pennell said.

The study, which had a margin of error of 1%, Pennell said, examined the one-year period between July 1, 1985, and June 30, 1986. A total of 4,431 felony arrest reports, chosen at random from throughout the area, were reviewed and used as the data base.

The study showed that U.S. citizens were more likely to be arrested for crimes of violence and suspected narcotics violations, while aliens were more frequently accused of crimes of property.

“This repudiates the perception touted through the media that undocumented immigrants are responsible for more violent crimes,” said Pennell, the study’s co-author. “Their crimes tend to be income-generating, which is logical for a poor, disenfranchised community.”

Narcotics violations accounted for 15% of the arrests of illegal aliens, compared to 21% for U.S. citizens.

Of illegal aliens arrested, the report stated, the highest proportion apprehended was in the larceny category, which accounted for almost a quarter of all arrested. Motor vehicle theft and burglary each accounted for about one in five of those arrested, the report stated.

Among U.S. citizens arrested, the study showed, 14% were suspected of larceny, 12% of motor vehicle theft and 17% of burglary.

As for violent crimes, the study showed that 8% of illegal aliens were arrested for aggravated assaults, 7% for robbery, 6% for rape and 1% for homicide.

Among U.S. citizen arrests, by contrast, 18% were apprehended for aggravated assaults, 8% for robbery, 7% for rape and 2% for homicide.