Illegal Immigration: An Attempt to Illuminate the Dark Figure of Crimmigration

• In Event: Roundtable: Methodological and Measurement Issues in Criminological Research

Abstract

“Mathematics is an exact figure; figures don’t lie, but liars sometimes figure.” - Col. L.F. Copeland. Recently the media has reported on the issue on immigration and its effects, what remains unclear are exact numbers. How many people are imprisoned for immigration violations, and what tangible effects can be measured because of these numbers? Stories in the media, or research done on crimmigration, always points to the difficulty of finding these dark numbers. Tallying, coupled with modern technology, should yield an answer by typing a query such as, “how many illegal immigrants are in prison for solely immigration violations”? Since simple queries yield mostly beliefs and opinions, correspondence with Federal, State and local courts, jails and prisons was initiated. Of the fifteen agencies contacted none possessed these numbers, a few showed interest in the numbers and suggested better ways to get the information. Grounded Theory is the preferred methodology to parse new criminal convictions from immigration violations through raw numbers provided by the U.S. Sentencing Commission reports. Currently these numbers appear difficult to know, but as a famous soldier said, “Knowing is half the battle,” the other half becomes to use factual data to guide immigration studies.

Author

• Victor Mendoza, Sul Ross State University