We found this discussed at Scott Henson’s blog, Grits for Breakfast, when we went looking for his take on the governor’s fresh brag about reducing major crime at the border.
As a long term trend, border counties are fast growing and fast reducing crime rates, which tells you more about the quality of the new arrivals than about the value of border crackdowns.
Which brings us to Henson’s second point: it’s not migration that’s getting out of hand, it’s immigration crackdowns. Here’s another source on the issue of border crime from the US/Mexico Border Counties Coalition:
“The contemporary situation in southwest border counties relating to crime and law enforcement is quite different than many would expect. Consider, for example, that some of the nation’s safest cities are located along the southwest border, including Tucson and El Paso. Given the link of crime to important quality of life decisions, the low rate of crime in southwest border counties, combined with attributes, such as affordable housing is part of the landscape of increasing retirement in the southwest. Since 1990, official crime statistics have recorded a dramatic drop of 30 percent (Figure 13.1). Property crimes are down 40 percent between 1990 and 2000 and violent crimes, among the lowest in the nation making up only 12 percent of all crimes, dropped 29 percent in the same decade.”
Chapter 13, “At the Cross Roads: US/Mexico Border Counties in Transition”
Texas Civil Rights Review 