When it comes to how nations are organized and what the basic authority of the state is, there are basically two models: The rule of man and the rule of law.
The first is capricious, inconsistent, frequently cruel, always unfair. The second? That depends on how strong the rule of law is. Ideally, a nation of laws relies on the laws being applied fairly and even-handedly, without prejudice.
In the United States, we're slipping. Millions of people have been allowed into the country illegally. Most of them have been allowed to stay, with minimal (if any) screening or vetting. When immigration officials place deportation holds on them, some local officials, citing "sanctuary" status, defy the law and release the offenders onto the streets. And yet, some of these same officials and the voters who support them like to claim that the illegal aliens - despite the inarguable fact that their very first act in the United States was to break the law - are more law-abiding than the citizens.
Dr. John Lott thinks otherwise.
In June, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was charged with the murder of Rachel Morin, a mother of five in Maryland. Police in Oklahoma tracked the accused repeat offender down with a sample of his DNA recovered from a Los Angeles home invasion in which a nine-year-old girl and her mother were assaulted. Police say he came to the U.S. illegally to escape prosecution for at least one other murder in his native El Salvador in December 2022.
“That should never have been allowed to happen,” said Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler, referring to the numerous missed red flags the case presented. His office apprehended Hernandez in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
In a nation with an effective rule of law, this probably wouldn't have happened. The perp would have been deported.
Dr. Lott, though, has the big picture with regard to crime and the costs of not only the crimes committed but of illegal immigration in general.
Like the member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua sentenced to life in prison last week for the murder of Laken Riley in Georgia, Hernandez’s case is shining a light on the federal government’s failure to properly vet and keep track of lawless migrants.
These gaps have led to broad claims that illegal immigrants have less involvement with the criminal justice system than native-born Americans. A review of the available data, however, shows that the criminal records of millions of migrants – the ones President-elect Trump vows to prioritize for deportation – remain unknown due to illegal crossings, lax enforcement, and lax data collection by federal and “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
In addition, an analysis of the available statistics by RealClearInvestigations suggests that the crime rate of noncitizens is vastly understated. A separate RCI analysis based on estimates developed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) suggests that crime by illegal aliens who entered the U.S. by July 21, 2024 cost the country some $166.5 billion. These criminals disproportionately entered the U.S. during the Biden administration.
Note that last sentence: "These criminals disproportionately entered the U.S. during the Biden administration." That's because the Biden administration ignored the law and allowed any semblance of control of the border to collapse. The responsibility for the deaths of Rachel Morin and Laken Riley, among others, is partly on their heads.
The number of even known criminals entering the country is shocking:
In response to a request from Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, ICE reported this summer that it has released 7.4 million such “non-detained” noncitizens into the U.S. during the last four decades or so. ICE reports that these include 662,566 noncitizens with criminal histories - 435,719 individuals with criminal convictions in their home countries and another 226,847 with pending criminal charges. These precise figures, however, do not say whether the crimes of the latter group were committed in the accused’s home country or the U.S.
In the July 21 letter to Rep. Gonzales, ICE reported that 13,099 of these non-detained individuals have convictions for homicide, with 1,845 facing criminal homicide charges. Another 9,461 have convictions for sex offenses (not including assault or commercialized sex), and 2,659 face pending charges. The convictions include other crimes such as assault (62,231), robbery (10,031), sexual assault (15,811), weapons offenses (13,423), and dangerous drugs (56,533).
And yet these individuals were "non-detained." As in, they were released into the United States. Not turned away; not deported; they were allowed in.
Americans are not only paying the price for these entries with our tax dollars, but Americans like Rachel Morin, Laken RIley, and Jocelyn Nungaray have paid with their lives. Are we to be a nation of laws? If so, this must end. We must get control of our borders, southern and northern. The flow of illegals must stop. Those here illegally must be removed. If that does not happen, then we are merely a nation of men, and there can be no consistency, only expediency; no principles, only politics.
We are already seeing what that means. It means crime, suffering, and heartbreak.
See Related: Heartbreak: The Human Cost of Kamala Harris' Border Policy
Jocelyn Nungaray's Heartbroken Mom at Trump Rally: 'Kamala Harris Has Never Reached Out to Me'
Migrant Crime: Tren de Aragua Recruiting Immigrant Kids to Prey on New Yorkers
It remains as I have been saying for some time: we are being invaded. The apparent majority of the people coming in are unaccompanied young men of military age, and many are from the Middle East, Africa, and China as well as Latin America. We have little or no idea exactly where these young men came from, where they intend to go, or what they intend to do when they get there. But given recent events, we can expect the worst.
But here's the thing: The question of whether illegal immigrants are more or less law-abiding doesn't matter. These people are in the country illegally. Their presence is against the law. Their entry into the country was against the law. If they are employed, that employment is against the law. We are either a nation of laws, in which case these laws must be enforced - or we are a nation of men, in which case only the desires of those in power will be realized.
If we are to be a nation of laws, then our immigration laws must be enforced. That means closing the border, and if that means mass deportations, then that's what we must do.
