[_iyig]

The statement

>But at least two independent studies suggest Secure Communities didn’t have any effect on crime rates, according to Light, despite deporting more than 200,000 people in its first four years.

>“If the plan was to make communities safer, to reduce the likelihood of, say, a felony violent assault in these communities through deportation, it did not deliver on that promise,” Light says

would seem to contradict

>“They have a tremendous incentive to avoid criminal wrongdoing. The greatest fear among undocumented immigrants is getting in legal trouble that leads to deportation,” says Light

That incentive exists because the law is enforced. If the law were not enforced, the incentive would disappear and crime would increase. QED the Secure Communities program prevents crime.

Am I missing something?

[TheOperator]

Looking at one of the studies mentioned, the study period was 1990-2014 [1].

Secure communities was piloted in 2008, and by 2011 appearantly still wasn't in effect in most communities [2]. Thus it seems that the low crime rate found in these studies PREDATES the secure communities program. Which would make it a tough on crime program targeting a low crime population, which would make it arbitrary and inefficient.

[1] https://news.wisc.edu/study-shows-undocumented-immigration-d...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Communities#History