Remember that rancher who was murdered in Southern Arizona? The guy whose death—presumed to be at the hands of illegal Mexican drug or people smugglers—is widely thought to have inspired Arizona’s recent wave of anti-immigrant legislation?
Well, guess what?
The killing of a Southern Arizona rancher that sparked an outcry to secure the border was not random, and investigators are focusing on a suspect in the United States, the Arizona Daily Star has learned.
High-ranking government officials with credible information spoke to the Star, citing a desire to quell the fury over illegal immigration and drug smuggling set off by the shooting death of longtime rancher Robert Krentz on March 27.
They said Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever is investigating a person in the United States, not in Mexico, in connection with the shooting.
The story is vague and highly speculative and relies on an unnamed source, so grain of salt, etc. But still. If it turns out this guy was killed by an American citizen, then what, Arizona?
Fracking Tea Bag Terrorists!
“A person in the United States” isn’t the same thing as “an American citizen.”
@2 FTW
Yes, I know.
Yeah, and even if it was an american citizen (which it doesn’t say) it doesn’t mean that person wasn’t involved in smuggling.
Crosscut has a heavily commented (for Crosscut) article written by Ted Van Dyk that links in its comment section to an Arizona report that crime rates in AZ are perhaps not even near to the category suggested by the AZ GOP legislature and its creation of its new law. Perhaps a little drill down is necessary.
If the queen had balls she would be the king.
This looks like it could be the work of “some Hispanic guy”, last seen in a South Park episode dumping Butters into the river.
“Yes, I know.”
Then why didn’t you say so?
Can you imagine how excited Will In Seattle will be if the New York City car bomber turns out to be a white guy?
Next you’re going to tell me there were no weapons of mass destruction.
Next you’re going to tell me Tanya Brawley lied.
— this game is fun!
Next you’re going to tell me the Spanish didn’t sink the USS Maine.
(bonus points because both news stories involve Spanish speakers!)
Next you’re going to tell me you won’t sell the Sonics if we don’t buy you a new arena.
Whoops, I guess that story turned out to be true.
@10: Not really, he’s a balding white guy in his 40s.
I don’t see what arresting “illegals” within its borders has to do with border security, other than that it would happen slightly less if there were more effective border control.
Then what? Then Arizona will most likely continue to be stupid is what.
I don’t understand how I’m not hearing more jokes and quips about native americans passing illegal immigrant racial profiling laws.
Arizona wants to be the worst state along the border for migrants to cross into. They don’t want to stop all immigration, just immigration into Arizona.
@6, crime is seriously decreasing in AZ, even more than the national average, and immigrants are a big part of why. Immigrants, legal and illegal, commit fewer crimes than natives. The whole crime scare is just a viral fear campaign.
If the guy turns out to be American, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the R(acists)epublicans will just lie because it suits their purposes to perpetuate fear of brown people. Kind of like the stupid Utah politician (Wimmer – he of the criminal miscarriage legislation), who claimed in TV interview that 82% of all the crimes in Utah were done by Hispanics and that illegal immigrants made up the largest population in the prisons. The local (church-owned) station actually did some research and found this was in error, and that it was actually 37%, and that only 5% of the Utah prison population was made up of undocumented workers. Of course Wimmer was planning to bring up a bill that was the same as the Arizona bill in the Utah legislature….
AZ crime stats are here:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2…
At @21
That seems to be the contention of several of Crosscut’s commentors. They cite an Arizona report that states border towns have seen a dramatic decrease in violent crime during the past decade in spite of the increases in population.
Something is just not right here, and I’d sure like an explantion.
@21 — your data sources?
@24: Now, now. You’re great at dismissing me because in your eyes I’m not really human, but I don’t see responding to you as deigning myself at all.
I may be privy to seeing these articles in full due to my access to scholarly content, but some of these citations are free for anyone to download online while others have fairly tidy abstracts to fill in what might be behind a peer-review paywall. I only went with the last few years of research, but since you asked for data sources, here you go (hint: if you can’t be arsed, they’re all saying the same core thing @21 asserted; where this deviates, the authors note exceptions thereto):
Atkins, Scott, Rubén G. Rumbaut, and Richard Stansfield. 2009. Immigration, economic disadvantage and homicide: A community-level analysis of Austin, Texas. Homicide Studies, (13): 307.
Olson, Christa P., Minna K. Laurikkala, and Lin Huff-Corzin. 2009. Immigration and violent crime: Citizenship status and social disorganization. Homicide Studies, (13): 227.
Ousey, Graham C. and Charles E. Kurbin. 2009. Exploring the connection between immigration and violent crime rates in U.S. cities, 1980–2000. Social Problems, 56(3): 443–73.
Wadsworth, Tim. 2010. Is immigration responsible for the crime drop? An assessment of the influence of immigration on changes in violent crime between 1990 and 2000. Social Science Quarterly, 91(2): 531–53.
I’ll tell you what. We’ll suggest his murderer was a closeted homo-sexshul being blackmailed* by the Mexican Mafia.
That’s what then, Mister Smarty-Paints Lib’rul from Way Up North in Some Pansy State.
==
* Brownmailed?