<p>I mentioned MS 13 on a thread about gangs a few months ago. It appears they are getting bigger and badder.</p>
<p>[FBI:</a> Burgeoning gangs behind up to 80% of U.S. crime - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-01-29-ms13_N.htm]FBI:”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-01-29-ms13_N.htm)</p>
<p>As I’ve posted often before, I’ve been a literacy teacher for more than 20 years and I can tell you that in recent years, the immigrants coming in are very often gang members. Very, very often. The myth of the hardworking immigrant adult trying to make a better life is just that in many parts of the country. We’re looking at some real ugliness as long as we continue to pretend otherwise.</p>
<p>There has always been a strong link between newcomer immigrant groups and “gang” participation. It’s just that, over time, the identity of these groups has changed. Whereas today’s newcomers are likely to be Latino or Asian, in the past they were more likely to be (for example) Irish, Italian, Jewish – all groups that once had significant “gang” participation. Perhaps the “myth of the hardworking immigrant adult trying to make a better life” should have been rejected as to them.</p>
<p>Well, gang criminality is certainly a problem, but — 80% of all crime in the country? No. Simply ludicrous. I think the reporting is flawed and misrepresents the actual findings.</p>
<p>Let’s assume for the moment that the “reporting” is accurate. There would still be reasons to be highly skeptical of these numbers. After all, they come from folks who themselves have a strong institutional self-interest in making this threat seem as big and as scary as possible. The greater the perceived threat, the less resistance they would expect to encounter in getting whatever funding they might want.</p>