FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM

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FAIR Urges the House Judiciary Committee to Take Up H.R.

3151, the Arrest Statistics Reporting Act

October 20, 2015

In July, Congressman Mo Brooks introduced H.R. 3151, the Arrest Statistics Reporting Act. This

straightforward bill does two important things: (1) allow arrest reports already sent to the FBI by law

enforcement agencies to include the best known immigration status of the arrestee, and (2) require the

Federal government to publish immigration crime statistics in the FBI’s annual crime reports. (See

FAIR's Summary of H.R. 3151) H.R. 3151 can be easily implemented and provides vital information

Congress (and the American people) need to have before considering any changes to our immigration

laws. The bill enjoys broad support (including from FAIR); accordingly, we ask Judiciary members to

inform Chairman Goodlatte of their support for the bill and respectfully request that he promptly

schedule a committee markup.

Why the Judiciary Committee Must Take Up H.R. 3151, the Arrest Statistics Reporting Act

The lack of statistics on crimes committed by illegal aliens allows anti-border control advocates to

dismiss the concerns raised by those interested in enforcing our immigration laws. For instance, the

American Immigration Council asserted in a report published last July that “innumerable studies” have

shown that both legal and illegal aliens are “less likely to commit serious crimes” than the native born.

(See American Immigration Council Report, July 2015) Numerous media outlets promulgated the AIC

report as proof that immigration enforcement advocates concerned about public safety were wrong.

(See, e.g., CNN, NBC, New York Times, Washington Post, Think Progress, Baltimore Sun, and the

New York Daily News) On the other hand, that same month the Migration Policy Institute estimated an

enormous population of illegal aliens with criminal convictions: 820,000. (See Migration Policy Institute

Report, July 2015, p. 11)

The trouble with sorting out competing claims linking immigration and crime is that the government

does not keep complete data. For instance, when Congress asked the Government Accountability

Office (GAO) to do a study updating its criminal alien statistics in 2011, the GAO had to admit that the

data it obtained represented only “a portion of the total population of criminal aliens who may be

incarcerated at the state and local levels.” (GAO Report, March 2011, p. 49) There is no “reliable

population data” on criminal aliens in state prisons and local jails. (Id.) H.R. 3151 would fix this problem.

FAIR strongly believes that the Arrest Statistics Report Act warrants review by the House Judiciary

Committee. If your boss feels the same, please have him/her notify Chairman Goodlatte of their support

and respectfully ask that he schedule the bill for markup.