Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo

As Wagatwe Wanjuki wrote earlier this month, “this is what fear looks like.” Citing deportation fears, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo revealed data showing that the number of Latinos reporting rape is down nearly 43 percent from last year:

"When you see this type of data, and what looks like the beginnings of people not reporting crime, we should all be concerned," Acevedo said during a news conference at HPD headquarters. "A person that rapes or violently attacks or robs an undocumented immigrant is somebody that is going to harm a natural born citizen or lawful resident." Acevedo said he frequently talks with members of the Hispanic community about their growing fear of reporting crime. He said Houston's status as the most diverse city in the country prompted him to alert the public about the latest statistics gathered by his department.

This isn’t a case of rates going down in general, either. Non-Latinos are reporting rape and violent assault. More incidents, actually. Latinos, fearing falling onto the the radar of government officials and ICE, are not:

The police chief said the HPD analysis also showed an 8.2 percent increase of non-Hispanic victims reporting rapes and 11.7 percent increase of non-Hispanics telling police about violent crimes.

“Acevedo said based on conversations with other police chiefs and colleagues in other cities, the trend in Houston mirrors what is happening elsewhere.”