OPINION:
“Rape at Maryland high school stirs up debate on sanctuary cities” (Web, March 22) cites statistics from a “study” applying enigmatic references to different statistical populations, and it misses key information. Using the 2015 Census Bureau number for the U.S. population (318,881,992) and the Justice Department number for the prison population (6,741,400), one gets a total of 2.11 percent of the total population as incarcerated that year. From the article’s “5.6 percent” reference one derives that 377,518 illegals are incarcerated. According to Voice of America News in December 2015 there were an estimated 11 million illegals in the United States at that time. That would mean 3.43 percent of them were incarcerated.
Using the article’s figures of 82.4 percent of the total “native-born” population (conflating legal and illegal immigrants) yielded 262,758,761. Then the article’s “91.5 percent” of those incarcerated in that category yielded 6,168,381. This means that only 2.35 percent of these individuals were incarcerated, a rate of only 69 percent of that of illegals.
Of course those statistics ignore the Obama “prioritized” removal that year of 462,463 illegals we were assured were “convicted criminals and threats to public safety, border security, and national security.” If one totals those illegals incarcerated and those deported as criminal and threats that year. the total is 839,981, or 8 percent of the estimated illegal population. Not quite the same picture offered in the article.
Bill Mills
Sterling, VA
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