Cherfilus McCormick Talks Crime Rates, Says Blaming Illegals Does Not Help

Crime is on the rise in certain American cities such as New York, Austin, Los Angeles, and others. While Republicans blame the surges on Democratic policies in those areas and the influx of illegal immigrants, Representative Sheila Cherfilus McCormick (D-FL) argued that Florida's success in fighting crime stems from successful funding of initiatives. Similarly, she said emphasizing the crimes of illegal aliens is "trying to scapegoat" and does not solve the problem in recent comments to The Floridian.

"I think that the reason [crime] is down in Florida is probably because we focused on bringing crime down, that administration, at the beginning of the year. We passed a crime bill, we put more money toward safety and community safety, and our communities were able to pull them down, especially in my district. We worked with the community to pull down funding so we can have safer neighborhoods," said Rep. Cherfilus McCormick.

In recent comments to The Floridian, Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) argued that the American justice system does not adequately rehabilitate criminals or treat mental health and substance abuse, thus explaining "persistent ebbs and flows" in crime rates.

Several Republicans, including Representatives Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Beth Van Duyne (R-TX), and Jake Ellzey (R-TX), instead suggested policies such as cashless bail and defunding police are enabling crime rates and the border crisis was also attributed.

Illegal immigrants have been the perpetrators of several high-profile acts of violence, such as the attack on New York City police officers at the end of January, the murder of Laken Riley by Jose Ibarra in February, and the riot at the El Paso border in March, spurring calls for solving the border crisis.

Rep. Cherfilus McCormick told The Floridian that emphasizing the crimes perpetrated by illegal immigrants is "trying to scapegoat" and does not adequately address the root causes of crime.

"I do not know if I can make that [assertion] that illegal immigrants are committing crimes because if I can make that accusation, then I can say Americans are committing crimes or any group are committing crimes, right? So, I do not feel comfortable saying that one group specifically is committing crimes when we see that crime is something that has been going on in our country for how long? I think the focus has to be," she added.

Cherfilus-McCormick continued, emphasizing on the "Safer Communities Act" as the driving force for keeping communities safe.

"How can we continue to pull down the funds from the Safer Communities Act and make sure that our areas are safe?" But as long as we keep trying to scapegoat and say, "Hey, these are the people committing crimes," then we are not really dealing with the root cause of the problem, which is how do we make sure we can protect families and protect people in our communities?" Cherfilus McCormick concluded.