A NYT article on gangs in North Carolina predictably questions whether stricter law enforcement measures are really the solution to controlling the rise in gang activity. After all, it hasn’t worked in Los Angeles – so why should it work in Durham? What the NYT fails to note, however, is that L.A., along with Durham and several other localities, is a sanctuary city for illegal aliens.
It is also not only astonishing, but misleading, that the NYT doesn’t even mention that much of the increased gang activity in North Carolina is being caused by illegal immigrants. A 2005 report by the Governor’s Crime Commission estimated that 22.2 percent of all gang members in North Carolina are Hispanic (with ethnicity unknown for another 19.4 percent). By contrast, Hispanics accounted for only 7 percent of total state population in 2004.
Nationally, Hispanics are thought to comprise 49 percent of total gang membership. The state estimates that 66 percent of Hispanic gang members are illegal aliens, while federal authorities believe as much as 90 percent of the membership of some gangs (such as MS-13) is composed of illegals.
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