AP answers your questions on the news, from crime committed by immigrants to El Nino’s effects

Ask AP: Crime by immigrants, El Nino’s effects

Some supporters of Arizona’s strict new immigration law say illegal immigrants are responsible for a lot of the state’s crime. Is this true?

That’s one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

You can also tweet your questions to AP, using the AskAP hashtag.

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Do you expect hurricanes to become stronger due to El Nino?

Bill Suarez

Cape Coral, Fla.

No. Dr. Gerry Bell of the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center explains: “El Nino acts to suppress Atlantic hurricanes, both in number and intensity.”

However, Bell adds, El Nino isn’t the only climate factor affecting Atlantic hurricanes. Another is a set of tropical conditions that varies over decades at a time and is responsible for high-activity and low-activity eras.

“The Atlantic has been in a high-activity era since 1995,” Bell says. “The previous high-activity era lasted from the mid-1930s to 1970.”

Randolph E. Schmid

AP Science Writer

Washington

One of the reasons being given for the need for Arizona’s new immigration law is that illegal immigrants commit a high percentage of the crimes in Arizona. What are the statistics for this, and compared with the country in general? Is it a valid claim?

C. Ford

Portland, Ore.

There are no definitive studies or government reports that quantify the percentage of crime committed by illegal immigrants throughout Arizona and nationally.

Advocates on both sides of the immigration debate say attempts to do so have suffered from a lack of complete data from the government. In some cases, police agencies take the word of jailed people on whether they are in the country legally. Some police agencies track immigrant arrests, while others don’t have the ability to readily check on the immigration status of those booked into jail. Four of Arizona’s 15 sheriff’s departments, for example, have special authorization to tap into federal databases to check on the immigration status of those arrested.

The best indicators are snapshots.

The Arizona Department of Corrections said 15 percent of the more than 40,000 people serving time in the state’s prisons are illegal immigrants. The figures, though, don’t include people who are convicted of misdemeanors or serve their sentences for felonies in county jails.

In Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county — where 60 percent of Arizonans live — Sheriff Joe Arpaio said 14 to 18 percent of those booked into county jails are illegal immigrants, depending upon fluctuations in the size of the jail population.

Illegal immigrants account for 7.2 percent of the 6.3 million people who live in Arizona, according to the federal government’s latest general population and illegal immigrant estimates. The Pew Hispanic Research Center estimated that illegal immigrants account for 7.9 percent of Arizona’s population. Neither estimate specifies the number of illegal immigrants living in Maricopa County.

The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict immigration laws, says screening efforts by some police agencies in Arizona and other states show high rates of incarceration for illegal immigrants, but adds that it’s unclear if those communities are representative of the country.

The pro-immigrant Immigration Policy Center points to the latest federal crimes statistics that show Arizona’s violent crime rate has fallen each year from 2005 to 2008 and its property crime rate has dropped each year from 2002 to 2008. The center also says that a century of research has shown immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

Jacques Billeaud

Associated Press Writer

Phoenix

Is there a listing of the sportswriters, with their cities and papers that they write for, who voted for the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year? In both the original vote and the revote?

Bruce Raffel

Reisterstown, Md.

Five days after Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing was suspended for four games for a positive drug test, a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL voted for a second time to name him The Associated Press NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

He didn’t receive anywhere near the 39 votes he got when the original balloting took place in January, but the 18 he got in Wednesday’s revote were still enough to claim the honor.

AP has published a complete list of sports journalists who participated in the vote, with details about who they voted for and whether they changed their vote the second time around. You can find it here: bit.ly/apGa6H

Cushing said Thursday that he never used any banned substances, even though he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

Cushing confirmed he tested positive for HCG, a fertility drug that is on the league’s banned substance list.

“The question of how it got into my body is still unclear,” he said. “It’s something that I’m very personally concerned about, just the fact that how it’s there and what’s going to determine it from happening again, and that’s something we’re going to have to medically investigate.”

Barry Wilner

AP Football Writer

New York

and

Kristie Rieken

AP Sports Writer

Houston

Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.