In the wake of a recent rape accusation at a Maryland high school, an illegal immigrant, Henry Sanchez Milian, is the suspect. The investigation is still on-going; however, social media flare-ups have once again ignited the debate regarding whether or not #illegal immigrants are to blame for violent crime.

One of the main issues that citizens disagree upon is the sanctuary policy—a policy that allows certain cities to harbor illegal families. Former President Barack Obama is being blamed for this incident—instead of analyzing global dysfunctions: such as the normalization of rape culture and the objectification of women.

The bottom line is that crimes are committed at random, by criminals; and people are failing to realize that certain demographics are being falsely labeled by our society—the society that often points fingers in the wrong direction—in an effort to seek answers for self-gratification.

Illegals, minorities, and violent crime

There are groups of citizens who whole-heartedly believe that staggering numbers of illegal immigrants are responsible for violent crimes. It is possible that some illegal immigrants are criminals; but no one is dismissing that behavior just because they are minorities.

Advocates and feminists are often blamed for the behavior of minorities partly due to the fact that these are groups that they aim to protect.

Advocates and feminists are working around the clock to fight for the rights of others while they are being attacked from all fronts by conservatives and some liberals—shockingly, by other women.

Advocate groups do not defend any rapists, which is a common misconception. The aforementioned groups may have a better grasp of reality and research regarding who is actually responsible for more violent crime in the United States, and statistically it is not #illegal immigrants.

In juxtaposition, decades of academic research tell us that most illegal immigrants are law abiding. This should be obvious, since most hard-working immigrants do not want to be caught, deported, nor do they want to put their family at risk.

What’s the deal with illegal immigration?

False claims that illegal immigration is on the rise are spreading like wild fire. Reportedly, there has been a major decline in illegal immigration. The U.S. Border Patrol reports that there has been an 80% decline since fiscal year (FY) 2000. Additionally, a Pew Research Center study indicates that, “between 2009 and 2014, more Mexican nationals left the U.S. than came.

Rubén G. Rumbaut, a sociology professor at the University of California, Irvine, and Daniel E.

Martinez, an assistant sociology professor at George Washington University put out a great study that can be found at on The American Immigration Counsel website. In short, it shows that “between 1990 and 2013, as the foreign-born share of the United States population nearly doubled and the number of unauthorized immigrants more than tripled, violent crime declined 48 percent and property crime fell 41 percent.”

So, the rhetoric that illegal immigrants are spiking our #Crime Rates lacks substantial evidence and logic. The only thing that we do know is that people fear change and often lash out at the things that they fear.

Let’s bridge the divides

Immigrants do not come here to commit crime and to get on welfare.

Previously mentioned research indicates that, “incarceration rates of native-born Americans are far higher than of illegal immigrants.” No one wants to believe this; instead, fear pushes people to attack those that are different from them.

Differences in belief systems are major causes of dissent. Social media forums are laden with attacks—liberal vs. conservative—yet, no one is addressing the root of the problem: a lack of regard for human life. Seeds of widely sown ideologies often dictate people’s belief systems—even without factual evidence or logic. These belief systems run so deep that they are rarely dismantled.