Hate Crimes

In a blatant McCarthiest move, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has recently claimed that organizations calling attention to negative aspects of illegal immigration are guilty of hate speech¹⁰ and hate crimes¹¹, claiming that hate crime statistics "…strongly suggest a marked upswing in racially motivated violence against all Latinos, regardless of immigration status."¹².

Other special interest organizations, such as the National Council of La Raza ("The Race") have chimed in.¹¹ Through a coordinated name-calling effort, they are attempting to stifle informed debate on the crucial issue of illegal immigration.

The truth is quite the contrary. In an insightful expose, the Federation for American immigration Reform (FAIR),¹³ revealed that data collected by the FBI¹⁴ show that hate crimes against Hispanics has decreased over the last 20 years as a percentage of the Latino population.¹⁶ The percentage that a Latino in the United States being the victim of a hate crime has declined dramatically over this period - by 18 percent for Hispanic victims and by 22 percent for hate crime incidents.  

The SPLC statement is intentionally misleading because it fails to adjust the hate crime data for the increasing size of the Latino population. In addition, it ignores the increase in the number of jurisdictions submitting hate crime reports, and it ignores the true longer-range downward trend in reported hate crimes against Latinos.

The trend in FBI-monitored hate crimes is clearly downward. Special interest groups and biased reporters who claim the contrary are attempting to stifle public debate and disinform the American public.