WASHINGTON, March 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A recent study by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) purported to show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes in this country than the general population. The results of the IPC report, "The Myth of Immigrant Criminality and the Paradox of Assimilation," are misleading because they lump legal and illegal immigrants together, finds an analysis done by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Not surprisingly, legal immigrants, who are screened for criminal records before being admitted to the United States, tend not to engage in criminal activities once in the country. The same is not the case for illegal aliens, who constitute the fastest growing share of the foreign-born population. An examination of official data on the U.S. prison population reveals that they represent a larger share of the overall prison population than their presence in the country.

"IPC, which is part of the network of advocacy groups lobbying for an illegal alien amnesty, is clearly fudging the facts to advance their political objectives," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "Local law enforcement authorities are correct to be concerned about growing populations of illegal residents because, on average, they are more likely to commit crimes. A new study we are releasing today shows that deportable aliens nationwide were nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated for crimes as their share of the population."

The findings of the IPC report, which gained widespread media attention, are belied by mounting evidence that illegal immigration is directly linked to violent crime in this country. Federal and local law enforcement agencies have announced urgent new initiatives to deal with growing gang violence, perpetrated by transnational criminals. Among the illegal alien criminals are possible terrorists, drug and human traffickers, child predators, drunk and hit-and-run drivers, murderers, and all classes of other felons.

"Our failure to control illegal immigration poses a real and documentable risk to the security of the American people," Stein asserted. "Innocent Americans are often victims of personal and property crimes committed by illegal aliens. The American public is not paranoid and they are not misperceiving reality. Illegal aliens are more prone to criminal activity than the rest of the population, a fact that points up the urgent need for Congress and the Bush Administration to regain control of our borders and enforce laws against illegal immigration."

FAIR's analysis, "Illegal Aliens and Crime Incidence: Illegal Aliens Represent a Disproportionately High Share of the Prison Population" can be found at http://www.fairus.org.