Using victims of actual criminals to justify treating all of them as criminals

Trump hosts victims of undocumented migrants amid family separations row

There is not the least doubt in the world that a tiny minority of illegal immigrants is comprised of very bad people.

The despicable liar in the White House trots out some of their victims to justify his Nazi treatment of the vast majority guilty of nothing but illegal entry, including illegally preventing entry by people legally seeking asylum.

All which, by the way, has taken loads of federal law enforcement and immigration and border agents off dealing with the actual criminals and wasted them on this crime against humanity.

Feel safer already, do you?

"Your loved ones have not died in vain," he told the group of so-called Angel Families at the White House.

. . . .

"These are the American citizens permanently separated from their loved ones," Mr Trump said on Friday, before introducing family members of victims.

"I cannot imagine it being any worse, but we promise to act with strength and resolve.

"We'll not rest until our border is secure, our citizens are safe and we end this immigration crisis once and for all," the president added.

. . . .

In 2017, Gallup polls showed that almost half of Americans believe that immigrants raise crime rates. Yet many studies have found that the reverse is actually true.

Native-born Americans are more likely to commit a crime than immigrants, and more likely to be incarcerated.

One study spanning four decades compared immigration rates with crime rates. The researchers found that immigration appeared to be linked to decreases in violent crimes like murder, or property crime such as burglaries.

"The results show that immigration does not increase assaults and - in fact, robberies, burglaries, larceny, and murder are lower in places where immigration levels are higher," said the paper's lead author, Robert Adelman.

A 2017 study by the Cato Institute found that the incarceration rate for native-born Americans was 1.53%, compared to 0.85% for undocumented immigrants and 0.47% for legal immigrants.