Tweet [1]
In 2016, illegal immigrants were 47 percent less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans and legal immigrants were 78 percent less likely to be incarcerated than natives. By race and ethnicity, legal immigrants and illegal immigrants were less likely to be incarcerated than their native-born co-ethnics [3]. In the state of Texas, which actually counts criminal convictions by immigration status, the illegal immigrant criminal conviction rate is about half that of native-born Texans and the legal immigrant conviction rate was 66 percent below [4]. In Texas, that pattern also holds for crimes like homicide, larceny, and sex crimes. Nationwide, only about 11 percent of “criminal aliens” actually committed a violent or property crime [5] and 60 percent of those “criminal aliens” deported committed only a victimless crime [6]. Related to these findings, DACA recipients were far less likely to be arrested than those who were not in DACA. [7]
Gary Galles relates timeless wisdom from F.A. “Baldy” Harper [9].
Jonah Goldberg is rightly disturbed by Trump’s bad character [10].
Katherine Mangu-Ward laments the endangered budget hawk [11].
Nick Gillespie writes thoughtfully about freedom of speech and the role of private social-media companies [12]. A slice:
This is a disturbing development, and I think it should bother all libertarians. Yes, these services have the right to ban people or treat them unequally, and yes, in many cases, Facebook, Twitter, et al are responding to consumer demand by shutting down this or that person, page, or account. But I think basically any speech short of true threats [13] should be tolerated. Even discerning what counts as a legitimate call for violence will create more than enough work for all the censors in the world. But the public sphere of debate, discussion, and disagreement works better in a setting that is more open rather than more closed. That holds true for the internet as a whole, but also on specific social-media platforms.
Jeff Jacoby tweets wisely about trade [14]. (HT Mark Perry)
Johan Norberg offers ten reasons why we really should be happy this New Year [15]. (HT David Boaz)