In a Nov. 19 WorldNetDaily article, Leo Hohmann plays stenographer for a group of sheriffs who are “march on the nation’s capital, hoping to send a message to President Obama and Congress that they oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants.” Hohmann uncritically quotes from a letter written by the sheriffs:
Given the fact that 25 people are killed each day by illegal immigrants, and our schools are becoming overcrowded and more costly, our public health is threatened by new diseases and ailments introduced by people living in our communities illegally, and the fact that benefits are being given and violations of the law forgiven for a select group of non-citizens, makes clear our obligation to act now before we erode the confidence and the faith citizens have in Sheriffs across the country and throughout our history.
The sheriffs are repeating a zombie lie that, as we’ve detailed, WND has been peddling since 2006.
The idea that “25 people are killed each day by illegal immigrants” was first promoted by anti-immigrant Republican Rep. Steve King, who claimed to have “extrapolated” this figure from a claim that 28 percent of all U.S. prison inmates are “criminal aliens” — which itself is false, overstating the number of inmates by a factor of four.
The sheriff’s claim that “our public health is threatened by new diseases and ailments introduced by people living in our communities illegally” is simply an echo of fearmongering peddled by the likes of WND’s own Jerome Corsi.
Hohmann reports that this anti-immigrant effort is being spearheaded by “two sheriffs from Massachusetts – Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson and Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald.” The fact that he can’t be bothered to call out the sheriff’s rank fearmongering and fact-check their bogus statistics is just another reason why nobody believes WND.
(Photo of Sheriff Thomas Hodgson via WND)