The murder of Kate Steinle in California highlighted the fact that we have a serious criminal illegal alien problem in this country. Many of these individuals, after breaking the law to enter the country, go on to commit other crimes — theft, rape, and even murder. David Olen Cross released a December 2017 report based on Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) data, announcing that there are “973 foreign nationals (criminal aliens) incarcerated in the state’s prison system.”

Oregon has 14,739 inmates incarcerated in its 14 prisons scattered across the state. “Approximately one in every fifteen prisoners incarcerated by the state was a criminal alien, 6.60 percent of the total prison population,” the report said.

According to Cross, all of the 973 criminal aliens currently in the state’s prisons were identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Anytime that happens, DOC officials will place an “ICE detainer” on the inmate. “After the inmate completes his/her state sanction, prison officials will transfer custody of the inmate to ICE,” he said.

Marion County, home to Salem, the state capital, houses the most illegal alien inmates with 235 — nearly one-fourth of the prison population. Washington County (Hillsboro) and Multnomah County (Portland, a sanctuary city) each have around 200 criminal aliens — around 20 percent of the prison population in those counties.

An astounding 476 —48.92 percent— of the criminal alien prisoners in Oregon have been convicted of committing crimes of a sexual nature, with 200 cases of sex abuse, 175 cases of rape, and 101 cases of sodomy. A total of 136 of the state’s criminal alien inmates are in custody because they committed homocide. Drugs, assault, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, theft and driving offenses round out the top ten list of crimes committed.

The criminal aliens in Oregon prisons come predominantly from South and Central America as well as Cuba. Nearly 80 percent, 777, came from Mexico. The next highest country of origin is Guatemala with 19 inmates.

The cost is steep to house and care for these prisoners. The criminal aliens each cost Oregon taxpayers $94.55 per day. That adds up to $91,977 per day for all of the criminal aliens in the state — $643,980 per week, more than $33 million per year.

Those numbers do not include the costs incurred for legal services, interpreters, court costs, or victim assistance, nor do they include the devastating personal costs that victims of their crimes pay.

According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), there are approximately 55,000 criminal aliens in U.S. prisons, accounting for one-fourth of prisoners in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities. “There are about 297,000 criminal aliens incarcerated in state and local prisons. That number represents about 16.4 percent of the state and local prison population compared to the 12.9 percent of the total population comprised of foreign-born residents,” according to FAIR. The estimated cost of housing these criminals at the federal level is estimated to be $1.5 to $1.6 billion per year.

Ten states account for 63 percent of the nation’s incarcerated criminal aliens: Nevada, Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, New Jersey, Oregon, Florida, N. Carolina, and Illinois.

FAIR suggests a multi-faceted approach to solving the problem of criminal aliens:

Secure the borders

Deny jobs to illegal aliens through a centralized secure identity verification system.

Assure that the criminal conviction of an alien leads to deportation and permanent exclusion from the United States.

Asylum applicants should be screened expeditiously and excluded if their claims are not credible. Even if they appear to have credible claims, they should be detained until background checks are done.

Secure greater federal and local government cooperation to identify criminal aliens.

“There are thousands of U.S. citizens being victimized and killed annually by criminal illegal aliens in the U.S.,” Steve Salvi, founder of Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC, told PJ Media. “The problem is magnified by the over 500 sanctuary cities that dot the U.S., which purposely help shield illegal aliens from detection by federal immigration agents. That is why it is important for all local and state governments to not obstruct justice and fully cooperate with the Dept. of Homeland Security.”

Oregon and other states that tolerate massive illegal alien populations continue to not only put their citizens at risk of crime, they cost those citizens billions in tax dollars every year, siphoning money from other valuable government services. Until the border is secured and local authorities pledge their full support for ICE programs, we’ll continue to hear horror stories of lives devastated by criminal alien crime.

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This article was updated to include the quote from Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC. An earlier version incorrectly characterized the percentage of the state’s incarcerated sex offenders who are criminal aliens.