{"id":21287,"date":"2019-03-26T11:42:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T15:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=21287"},"modified":"2019-03-26T11:42:51","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T15:42:51","slug":"barrier-leads-to-apparent-decline-in-el-paso-property-crimes-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/03\/26\/barrier-leads-to-apparent-decline-in-el-paso-property-crimes-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Barrier Leads to Apparent Decline in El Paso Property Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There was a time when residents of El Paso, Texas, felt unsafe. Property crime plagued the city. \u00a0Thousands of times a year illegal aliens would steal<\/a> cars and drive them back across the southern border before law enforcement had the time to react. Virtually any property of any size left outside the home was fair game for illegal border crossers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey couldn’t leave stuff out like lawn chairs or garden hoses or anything of any value because it would be carted into Mexico,\u201d s<\/a>a<\/a>id<\/a> Silvestre Reyes, a former Democratic congressman and Border Patrol chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things changed when a border fence was built in 2008, and the situation began to improve. After reviewing El Paso Police Department (EPPD) crime data, KFOX14<\/a> reported that the city saw auto thefts decline from more than 2,700 in 2008 to about 1,900 in 2009. By 2017, that number had fallen to only 800. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition\nto auto thefts, the local Fox affiliate stated that other crimes were down as\nwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n