A new study by the Warren Institute just came out this month analyzing some extremely rare arrest data from Irving, Texas. The ACLU of Texas managed, by some wild miracle, to get arrest records for a 23-month period during which Irving started participating in the Criminal Alien Program (“CAP”). (Get it? ICE CAP? I know, right?! This from the people who brought you color-coded indications of the likelihood you will die by terrorists. You should see what they can do with a couple of toilet paper rolls and some cotton balls.)
And what do you think those lovely folks at the Warren Institute found? Gobs and gobs of racial profiling. Just gobs.
It turns out that when you, the federal government, let them, the Irving cops, call you 24 hours a day to complain about the Mexicans to screen for immigration status, Hispanics start committing a lot of low-level traffic violations. Well, either that, or the Irving police start arresting the heck out of Hispanics for misdemeanor crimes. You know, like crimes where they have lots of discretion choosing who to stop, arrest, and/or harass.
Meanwhile, the federal government can feel good knowing the program they promised would identify those really bad, public-safety-threatening types managed to actually flag some felons for immigration review. Huzzah! Unfortunately, that was only about 2 percent of the time. The other 98 percent of the time they were, you know, getting a real handle on the local broken-taillight problem in Irving.
-AS
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