Illegal Immigration

Stats

• According to the Center for Immigration Studies

– January 2000 there were 7 million illegal aliens in the US

– Illegal alien population estimated at 10 million in 2007

• Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

– Within Department of Homeland Security

• Responsible for guarding 7,000 miles of land border and 2,000 miles of coastal waters

– 11,000 CBP agents and 18,000 CBP officers

• Deploying modern technology, strengthening border infrastructure, increasing the number of highly trained law enforcement personnel

• New Terrorist Watch Program

– U. S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT)

• 24 million foreigners are expected to be checked at nation’s airports annually

• Check against terrorist lists and national database

• U.S. Southwestern Border

– 700 mile fence

– Over $1.2 billion

• Congress also passed a DHS bill that included $380 million to hire 1,500 more CBP agents and money to build detention facilities

• One crime that has been disproportionately associated with undocumented migrants in the Southwest is drug trafficking

• Police officials say this is a false impression

• Aliens are a prime target for criminals

• Rescue beacons and border drones

• Monitor illegal activity along the Arizona-Mexico border

• Use thermal and night-vision equipment to spot illegal immigrants and can detect movement from 15 miles of altitude, read a license plate, and detect weapons

Organized Crime

– Any group having some manner of formalized structure and whose primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities

• Oldest, most profitable, and most dangerous form of organized crime in the US is the Mafia

• Origins can be traced back to 13th century Sicily

• Morte Alle Francia Italia Anela” meaning “Death to the French is Italy’s Cry”

• The acronym of this is MAFIA

• Mafia families have a formally organized nature

• By the 1960s the Mafia’s influence in America had grown to a multibillion-dollar syndicate of criminal enterprises run by 26 families nationwide

• Beginning in the mid-1980s, the FBI led an assault on the Mafia

• Put away two generations of godfathers

• Put them away using these methods:

1. Expanded use of electronic eavesdropping (wiretapping)

2. Use of informants

3. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)

Policing Youth Crimes

• About 46.3% of all persons arrested in the US are under the age of 24

• 26.2% are under 19• Juvenile crime remains one of the nation’s most

serious problems• Four in five victims of nonfatal violent crime, ages 12 to

14, perceived the offender to be a juvenile

• Incarceration rate of 645 makes the US second only to that of Russia at 685

Policing Youth Crimes

• Overall homicide rate declined in 1980s and 1990s

• Youth violence, particularly gun homicide began increasing dramatically

• Research has linked urban gun violence to gang conflicts over drug markets