[The Coopster]

We didn’t have 30% of the illegal immigrant population in prison in the 1850’s.

Sorry, I'm going to have to call BS on this one. Hispanics don't make up for anywhere near 30 percent of the prison population in the US, and to say that 30 percent of illegal aliens are in jail is patently ridiculous - especially if you buy into the numbers that are supposed to be here.

So, no matter which way you meant it, it seems to be patently false.

Feel free to clarify, and then please back it up with a credible link.

[muawiyah]

http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v42/prison.htm

I think these guys are against sending criminals to prison, but they hvae a neat table:

Table 2
Number of Sentenced Prisoners Under
State or Federal Jurisdiction, 2003
Males

	Total	White	Black	Hispanic
Total	1.3M	454,300	586,300	251,900

Table 3
Number of Sentenced Prisoners Under
State or Federal Jurisdiction, 2003
Females

	Total	White	Black	Hispanic
Total	92,784	39,100	35,000	16,200

[weegee]

The figure I’d heard cited a substantial number of FEDERAL prisoners. Which also raises the stakes for the crimes they are convicted of.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/27/114208.shtml

Monday, March 27, 2006 11:39 a.m. EST
Justice Dept. Figures on Incarcerated Illegals

“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.”

Citing an Urban Institute study, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies Steven Camorata noted in 2004: “Roughly 17 percent of the prison population at the federal level are illegal aliens. That’s a huge number since illegal aliens only account for about 3 percent of the total population.”

Former California Gov. Pete Wilson places the percentage of illegal aliens in U.S. prisons even higher. In 2001, he told Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly:

“We had problems related to the costs of educating children who were acknowledged to be in the country illegally, healthcare costs. One in five in our prison population were illegal immigrants who had been convicted of a felony after entering the country illegally.”

The Federation for American Immigration Reform also turned to the Justice Department to get statistics on criminal aliens. They report:

“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].

[ snip ]

Up to a third of the U.S. federal prison population is composed of non-citizens, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons statistics - but not all non-citizen prison inmates are illegal aliens.

[SFC Chromey]

http://www.theamericanresistance.com/articles/art2004jan04.html

3. Illegal aliens are NOT necessarily coming here to work. Lou Dobbs recently reported that 33 percent of our prison population is now comprised of non-citizens. Plus, 36 to 42 percent of illegal aliens are on welfare. So, for a good proportion of these people, the American dream is crime and welfare, not coming here to work.