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Republicans are gathered in Milwaukee this week for their national convention, and some politicians are heavily focused on immigration and the border.
Speeches from several politicians tied migration along at the U.S.-Mexico border to everything from fentanyl overdoses to crime.
U.S. Senate hopeful Kari Lake said policies supported by President Joe Biden and Congressman Ruben Gallego had put control of Arizona into the hands of drug cartels.
“Because of them, criminals and deadly drugs are pouring in and our children are dying. Our children are getting their hands on these drugs and dying,” Lake said.
Data from the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection consistently shows the majority of drug smuggling at the border happens at ports of entry, often by U.S. citizens.
Dr. Nancy Foner, a sociology professor at City University of New York’s Hunter College, says linking crime rates to immigrants is an old, but persistent, myth.
“The foreign-born in fact are much less likely than the native-born to commit violent crimes, and in fact, cities and neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have much lower crime and violence than comparable non-immigrant neighborhoods,” she said in a webinar for journalists this week.
A Northwestern University study examining more than a century of data found that over the past six decades, immigrants are 60% less likely to be incarcerated than their U.S.-born counterparts.
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The complaints come at the same time as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum navigates delicate negotiations with the Trump administration, one analyst says. -
The Trump administration could now deny immigrants' visas based on medical conditions like diabetes or heart disease. -
It’s been more than a week since U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stopped allowing immigrants to automatically renew their work authorization, a change that could leave thousands in Arizona without the documents they need to work. Experts say the change will also impact immigrant children who are in the US seeking asylum. -
The Consulate General of Mexico in Phoenix says the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office is working with the immigration and customs enforcement. It recently published this information via social media to the Mexican community. -
The federal magistrate judge on the case had granted the Department of Homeland Security to pause the challenge by the Center for Biological Security, citing the government shutdown.
