Do you have a source for that stat?
Justice Dept. Figures on Incarcerated Illegals
As Investors Business Daily reported in March 2005: "The U.S. Justice Department estimated that 270,000 illegal immigrants served jail time nationally in 2003. Of those, 108,000 were in California. Some estimates show illegals now make up half of California's prison population, creating a massive criminal subculture that strains state budgets and creates a nightmare for local police forces."
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/27/114208.shtml
Also heard on KABC yesterday morning on the Doug MacIntyre show. It is common knowledge that at least 40% of California's prison population is illegals and that number is probably low.
However if you want another source, here it is:
http://www.ej20.us/crime.htm<
Illegals Contribution to US Crime
Unfortunately, illegals bring crime with them, too: In Los Angeles, 95 percent of outstanding homicide warrants are for illegal aliens, as are 66 percent of fugitive felony warrants. The notorious 18 Street Gang has 20,000 members, of whom 60 to 80 percent are illegal aliens, according to the California Department of Justice and the Los Angeles Police Department, respectively. The Lil Cycos Gang, notorious for murder, racketeering, and drugs in Los Angeless MacArthur Park, was thought to be 60 percent illegals in 2002, and the percentage is higher now. (Source - Note that source is a PDF file and you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it)
You don't think they just bring water with them, do you? . "90 percent of the meth (methamphetamine) manufactured in this country is manufactured by Mexican national (Mexican non-U.S citizen) drug organizations,"- Ron Gravitt, California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement's clandestine lab unit chief, Oct. 2000, Sacramento Bee Special Report. "Methamphetamine cases today account for 80% of the nation's police departments' drug investigations."- D.E.A. Report 1996.
Why are we not deporting them? In March 2000, Congress made public Department of Justice statistics showing that, over the previous five years, the INS had released over 35,000 criminal aliens instead of deporting them. Over 11,000 of those released went on to commit serious crimes, over 1,800 of which were violent ones (including 98 homicides, 142 sexual assaults, and 44 kidnappings). In 2001, thanks to a decision by the Supreme Court, the INS was forced to release into our society over 3,000 criminal aliens (who collectively had been convicted of 125 homicides, 387 sex offenses, and 772 assault charges). (Source)
Number of illegals arrested yearly on drug charges: Over the past five years, an average of more than 72,000 aliens have been arrested annually on drug charges alone. (Source)
Prison Population: According to Lous Dobbs, 33% of the prison population is made up of illegals. (Source)
Cost of illegals on California taxpayers: Taxpayers pay $750 million annually to house the 18,000 illegal aliens in California prisons. (Source)
World Net Daily
The cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in California's prisons and jails amounts to about $1.4 billion a year.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42474
(about 30 percent of the inmates in federal prison are not citizens)
The vast majority of incarcerated aliens have entered the United States illegally, rather than entering the country legally and remaining past the authorized period of stay. Sentenced illegal aliens are generally poorer, less educated, younger, more likely to be male and Hispanic, and less likely to have dependents than the incarcerated legal aliens and U.S. citizens.5