Virginian Pilot Continues Irrelevancy

The Virginian Pilot has long been a despicable rag. It’s self professed slogan "True to the Democratic Party in victory or defeat" was proudly proclaimed on its masthead. But you could at least assume that its headline stories were … you know … headline stories.

But like the News of the World headlines about two headed babies from Pluto, the Pilot has headlines like “Is Michael Vick friendly to a fault?" (you can't buy that kind of boot licking any other place) or today’s : "Are illegal immigrants really more prone to crime?" by Gillian Gaynair.

A large part of her article is devoted to depicting people concerned about illegal immigrants as nativist know-nothings. Her “source” for this is the Immigration Policy Center.

Concerns about immigrant criminality tend to increase during peaks in immigration, according to some researchers. The United States has experienced explosive immigration since the 1990s, with Latin Americans and Asians accounting for most of the newcomers. About 12 million immigrants are here illegally, according to an estimate by the Pew Hispanic Center. Most are from Mexico.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were the “watershed moment” for those anxious about immigrants and crime, said Walter A. Ewing, a research associate with the Washington-based Immigration Policy Center, which researches immigrants’ contributions to the United States.
“It’s even easier now for people with anti-immigrant sentiments to prey upon the fears and insecurities of Americans,” Ewing said.

The Immigration Policy Center is not a research organization, it is an out-and-out advocacy group that promotes illegal immigration and files lawsuits on behalf of illegal immigrants.

But at the end she concludes that we don’t know enough to answer her question.

But here’s one answer: illegal immigrants, or illegal aliens, whatever you want to call them have all committed one more crime than people who are legal residents: they came here illegally, they are here illegally and the question that should really be asked is: when will this stop?