How likely is it that an illegal immigrant (in America) would not report a serious crime to the police? By serious I mean along the lines of 'ex-boyfriend (who is a citizen) broke in and did bad things to both the woman and her school-age daughter. I guess that kind of divides into two sub-questions:
Would reporting a crime run a significant risk of opening up some sort of investigation into your immigration status?
Even if it wouldn’t, is there the perception that it would? Is it likely that someone would be afraid of that happening and thus not report the crime?
This situation seems to come up from time to time on Law and Order. The victim has to be persuaded by one or more of the lead characters to testify, promising that INS won’t be called. Then the defense blows their cover and the unfortunate victim is screwed. Or not.
In some locations, Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been representing themselves as the police, (example) and arresting perfectly legal immigrants of Latino descent leading to a downturn in reported crimes which the local police are quite ticked about. ICE is being sued for Constitutional violations in New Jersey, and the police in Nassau County (Long Island) oppose ICE’s tactics in official statements and have directed disgruntled letters to various Federal officials.
So yes, I think it is the case that immigrants, period are suspicious of the police, even if they themselves have legal status, at least partially due to these tactics.
Another factor to consider: many illegal immigrants come from societies where the police are simply another arm of oppression, to be avoided or bribed. Seeking out voluntary contact with the police is often rare in many cultures.
Add to that the sort of tactics that Hello Again mentions, and these people will not believe that the police are anything but their natural enemies.
I think illegal immigrants around here would hesitate reporting about something they considered a crime. They may use a legal resident to report a crime. Something we have laws against, and they don’t back home, I think would almost never be reported. Drunk driving is one of the things I’ve noticed immigrants from the old Soviet Union don’t seem to have a problem with. Being near the Dells there have been a lot of incidents with immigrant workers and surprise they don’t all go home when the Visa expiries.
We’ve had recent cases of crimes going un-reported in illegal immigrant communities here (Mississippi). The reasons seem to fall along the lines of what Otakuloki mentioned. Most of them were thefts; the immigrants also don’t/can’t open bank accounts, so they often have large amounts of cash on their person. Some of them were violent crimes.
[hijack]There is a creek here called Otukalofa. I think of that every time I see your screen name![/hijack]
Yes. Also, sometimes there are situations where you simply have no idea where to report something which smells fishy (or stinks to high heaven). People know that if you’ve been robbed you’re supposed to call the cops, but
who do you call if you’re legally employed and your employer wants you to go on working illegally? (the person from INS called me a “fuckin’ stupid whore” when I asked what could I do, gee, that’s going to be helpful… and at least if I’m a whore and I fuck I’m getting paid, that’s a positive…)
who do you call if you suspect your immigration lawyer is stringing you along?
who do you call if you think your doctor is overcharging you?
Houston is not a Sanctuary City, but HPD officers do not regard themselves as Border Patrol. Crime victims, witnesses & even minor offenders are not quizzed about their immigration status. Serious offenders get more scrutiny.
Periodically, city council members go on crusades to protect us from The Illegals. But they tend to fail.