Dean Johnson Comments for New York Times on Crime and Immigration
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for media including the New York Times and Sacramento television station KTXL FOX-40 on the case of Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamonte, a twice-deported Mexican national who is accused of killing two Northern California sheriff's officers on October 24.
The suspect was convicted of selling narcotics in 1997 and deported, but reentered the country illegally. In 2001, he was arrested on drugs and weapons charges and deported a second time. The case has drawn significant media attention and prompted speculation that it may hinder efforts to implement immigration reform.
"This is a tragic case that is already being used by advocates to argue against any kind of changes," Dean Johnson told the New York Times. "But everyone agrees that this is the sort of person we should be focused on not having here."
In an interview broadcast on KTXL, Dean Johnson that while the Bracamonte case was an "atypical situation," it could well influence the prospects for immigration reform.
"It is important to remember this is an extraordinary case, something that rarely happens, and if we look at immigrant crime rates, we see that they're lower than U.S. citizen crime rates," Dean Johnson said. "At the same time, it's focused the nation at least for a moment on crime and immigrants, and is going to make the president's work more difficult in trying to reform the immigration system.