Arizona Crime

Floor Speech

Mr. POLIS. It should be common sense that with the limited dollars we have in law enforcement, diverting those law enforcement resources to hunt down immigrants detracts from our efforts to combat violent crime. However, believe it or not, some supporters of Arizona's new immigration law actually claim that it's a crime-fighting measure.

That overlooks a basic point: Crime rates have already been falling in Arizona for years despite, or perhaps in part because of, the presence of immigrants. This was once again proven by a recent study conducted by America's Voice, which documented the change in violent crime levels in various Arizona police jurisdictions from 2002 through 2009.

As you can see, crime is down in Arizona, the purple line. In fact, the only jurisdiction in the study where crime increased was in the part of Maricopa County under the jurisdiction of the incompetent sheriff Joe Arpaio, who's famously used anti-immigrant policies to advance his political agenda at the expense of keeping his communities safe.

From 2002 to 2009, the crime rate in Maricopa County increased 58 percent while the State as a whole averaged a 12 percent decrease. Compare that 58 percent crime increase to other localities of Arizona that did not use the immigrant-bashing approach. In that same time period, Phoenix enjoyed a 14 percent decrease in crime; Tempe, a 26 percent decrease; and Mesa, a 31 percent decrease--communities dealing with the same types of immigration issues as Maricopa County and yet communities that, during the same period of Sheriff Arpaio's tenure, decreased their crime rate.

Why? In recent years, local law enforcement communities have increased, successfully, community policing efforts, which includes establishing relationships with immigrant communities to fight crime. These efforts are part of the reason why crime is dropping in Arizona. And Senate Bill 1070 threatens to undo that process. That's the reason the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, the Yuma County Sheriff, Mesa Police Chief, and many other law enforcement officials nationally are opposed to the new Arizona law, Senate Bill 1070, which will stretch local police forces and hinder law enforcement's ability to obtain critical information on criminals.

Anti-immigrant laws like Senate Bill 1070 will lead to a crime wave across Arizona and across the Nation, and we see the evidence right here in Sheriff Arpaio's own district.

In my home district of Colorado, the chief of police of Boulder County, Chief Pelle, has been an outspoken leader on this front. He's criticized the Arizona law because it threatens successful community policing efforts that have been implemented in my district and across the Nation.

Misguided laws like Senate Bill 1070 will increase crime. Only comprehensive immigration reform can address this issue, and only Congress has the power to pass it. We need to pass tough, fair, and practical reform that will secure our borders, crack down on employers who hire immigrants illegally, require all immigrants here illegally to register with the government, pass a security check, pay taxes, and learn English.

I call on Congress to fix our broken immigration system now. No one from either side of the aisle thinks that the status quo is working for our country. It's time to stop playing politics with an issue that should have been addressed long ago. We must pass comprehensive immigration reform immediately.

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