Immigration apologists often repeat this phrase regarding deportation and broken tail lights: “The punishment does not fit the crime.”

First of all, they are conflating two legally separate actions: Deportation, which is a federal remedy and has nothing to do with the broken tail light, and the lawbreaking of driving with a broken tail light, which is an inherently dangerous, criminal action.

They are two events that happened at the same time, a broken tail light and an undocumented person driving that car. But they are distinct legal situations. The criminal punishment for the tail light ranges from a fine to some days in jail, depending on jurisdiction. The deportation is totally unrelated.

It is the undocumented’s fault he was driving with that broken tail light. The tail light is not the legal reason for the deportation. Being here without permission is the reason for the deportation. Deportation is the correct remedy for someone here illegally.

And by the way, why is an undocumented driving that car with a broken tail light? When your tail light goes out, you fix it. If someone doesn’t care enough about the safety of others on the road, then no, we don’t want such careless people here putting us in danger.

They don’t even care enough about themselves that they make damn sure they are not susceptible to being pulled over by a patrol officer, whose job it is to help keep roads safe. Do we want such irresponsible people in our country?

Actually, it’s more like they are so brazen and entitled that they figure they can drive with broken tail lights with impunity, because people such as the apologists minimize the crime by saying incredibly dumb and ignorant things like “the punishment does not fit the crime.”

The analysis of small crimes

and big crimes is not only misdirection, it is dangerous and puts Americans in peril. This mindset tells undocumented people that they can break all sorts of laws, just as long as it’s not murder (Rape is OK, see recent unanimous Supreme Court decision).

The wreckage to people and their families is on the hands of these apologists. And that is bad enough. Even worse, this lawlessness mindset bleeds into our society at large. American criminals see undocumenteds getting away with crime, so they figure they are untouchable. After all, we can’t deport our home-grown dirtbags.

It is a lie of the worst order when someone utters the phrase “nonviolent offenders.” They say it to imply that there are only two kinds of criminals, ones who stick only to the nonviolent offenses, and the others who are violent. They are not separate circles in a Venn diagram. They are two points on a criminal mindset continuum.

Exhibit A, the murderer of Drs. Linas Bolanos and Richard Field in a Boston penthouse. The suspect, who is an undocumented, received an absurdly light sentence for a prior bank robbery because, oh, he didn’t actually have a gun. Ah, such a nice “nonviolent” young man. He was just making threats.

There are unending examples like this that add up to a pattern of a criminal mindset that never changes — only circumstances do. The “nonviolent” offender will commit violence to get what he wants if he is given the opportunity. The job of the law, and those who enforce it, is to prevent crime from happening, not to indulge and enable it.

Why do we categorize crime this way? So the apologists can minimize the crimes that don’t involve physical injury to a person and feel good that they are allegedly rehabilitating offenders. We need to go the other way, and start using the correct terminology.

All crime is violent. It is a breaking of the sanctity of our Constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If someone burglarizes your home when you are not there, the apologists call that nonviolent. But it is violent.

Your peace of mind is violently ruptured and you will never rest easy again. Where is your second chance? You will never get one. Why should the criminal? And, why on earth should the undocumented get a second chance? They already got the amazing chance to live in America even though they had no right to be here. They blew it.

Marisa DeFranco is an immigration lawyer in Massachusetts and an occasional guest host of “Nightside with Dan Rea” on WBZ-1030 radio.